Product News - Process Control And Computer Automation Product ManufacturerAnnounces Seven New Products

Process Control And Computer Automation Product Manufacturer Announces Seven New Products

Hunkar Laboratories has introduced seven new products and services, including:

Upgraded factory automation system Several new features have been added to Source-CIM, which was first introduced at NPE '97. Version 1.1 was detailed in Jul/Aug '98 PA, p 19. Version 1.3, which is priced at $15,000, includes:

Automated factory process management The Maintenance Wizard module for Source-CIM, is said to 'truly' automate both plant-wide equipment surveillance and diagnostics for machine repair. The company says maintenance personnel can now spend their time actually repairing equipment, rather than analyzing 'endless charts and graphs in an attempt to diagnose what needs to be done.'

The Maintenance Wizard provides alarms and diagnostics along with a set of recommendations for priorities to the user. An optional real-time alphanumeric pager network can be deployed for greater efficiencies.

The program works in the background analyzing the capabilities, processes and machines connected to the Hunkar Source CIM Network, using the information retrieved by process monitoring. The Wizard then calculates a new set of upper and lower standard process limits (USL/LSL) that the current equipment is able to perform called Current Machine Capability (CMC). It compares these new limits of the last set on file and alarms, if the current CMC shows degradation.

The company says this product was brought about by two innovations: a new method for automatically quantifying machine of process capability suitable for real-time use and a new proprietary process analysis formula that allows calculation of USL/LSL values, even on data that contains spikes or noise.

These two innovations work together to automatically determine when a process is degrading and call attention to what needs to be corrected before any bad parts can be produced.

The product integrates itself into the Source factory operating system and uses system notes and Class Factor tables from the Source System. Graphical diagnostics are added through the use of Pareto and trend charts. A statistics display shows the current CMC of each process parameter.

The 'system notes' feature records information for acknowledgement. Automatic maintenance displays and log printouts are provided as work orders for maintenance. A new macro plant-wide display shows process status and activity for every piece of manufacturing equipment.

This module is priced at $7000.

RPM services For those processors who want process and production monitoring and control, but who don't want to spend the time to diagnose machine performance deficiencies, Hunkar will remotely run Source-CIM and provide the processor with a benchmark of CMC, along with routine and specific identification of machine performance and suggested improvements.

Supplier says the service eliminates process management system learning curves, delays and distractions; improves utilization of important maintenance resources; decreases overall machine downtime; reduces exposure from factory personnel changes; provides third-party process/machine analysis and traceability; lowers manufacturing costs and increases profits; and eliminates worries about system hardware obsolescence.

Two levels of service are offered. Level I includes class factor ratings for all machines that can be saved on the processor's system and a report of initial performance findings faxed or e-mailed to the plant.

Machine performance data is downloaded daily by RPM staff to compile evaluation data. An updated CMC report, showing plant averages, individual CMCs, parameter trend graphs for machines with significant variations and maintenance and priority recommendations, is then provided twice per week.

Level II includes all of the Level I features, as well as Hunkar Machine Performance Certification, which is documentation of traceability; a monthly follow-up analysis of the CMCs with improvement recommendations; and in-depth reports on alarm occurrences, corresponding to CMC, to assess potential relationships.

Services and hardware can be included in one monthly payment. Costs are based on the number of machines to be monitored. Contact the supplier directly for more information (see the Key Contact Directory).

Machine terminal upgrades Smart Box 1000 has been improved with the following features: color Touchmate-II technology, additional overlapping intra-cycle curve displays, database items and graphing for minimum extruder position at the end of injection, extruder position at the start of injection (shot size), average fill pressure (integral) and transfer pressure.

In addition, all long-term plots now allow scrolling. With each cycle, a new datapoint is added and the oldest is removed. Any displayed graph image can be saved to disk or printed. A new part sorting function has also been added, allowing users to select parameters that are used for discrimination.

The company says prices for the upgraded unit will be lower, but adds that pricing information is not yet available.

For extrusion blow molders The Model 3100 product line incorporates  two new technologies: The Quality Trace program and the Phase Control program.

Quality Trace is designed to 'do away with' poor parison programs due to dirty servovalves, poor servovalve gain, insufficient oil pressure or flow, dirty oil filters and loose parts on the programming mechanism.

A key use of this program is the automatic notification of maintenance when a machine's performance begins to deteriorate, before bad parts are made.

A yellow curve shows the Parison Program profile and consists of 300 points. A red curve shows the Quality Trace, which is the actual movement of the tooling. A difference between these two curves indicates an error. The Quality Trace can be saved and reloaded with a repeated setup, allowing replication of the program. A green curve shows the previously saved setup.

The system tracks the error values from each cycle and plots it as a trend chart. The trace is controlled by USL/LSL set by the user. These values represent the maximum allowable error. A pre-control formula automatically tracks the error trend for significance and warns the operator before the maximum allowable error is reached.

The Phase Control program links the parison program with the movement of the wheel on wheel-type blow molding machines. Advantage cited by the manufacturer, as compared to conventional time-based synchronization, is that the tooling movement and speed changes as the wheel speed changes.

Thus, parison profile alignment with the mold is improved. The profile phase can be changed electronically to align the parison program with the mold cavity. This system is priced at $9900.

Year 2000 compliance services Since all the firm's products now marketed are Year 2000 (Y2K) Compliant, the company's field service and training personnel are now helping MIS and factory CIM personnel who want assistance in certifying that their existing CIM program is in full compliance.

On-site service and training programs are designed to help customers understand the Y2K process management issue and assist them with installing any necessary upgrades to achieve compliance.

The three-day program includes assessment of current implementation, Y2K compliance confirmation, suggested changes and improvements, hardware evaluation, routine maintenance on computers, and two, 4-hr training sessions. Cost is $900/day.  

Portable machine analyzer Enhancements made to this system include the same improvements that were made to the Smart Box 1000 machine terminal (above).

The Portable Machine Analyzer still includes Class-Factor analysis technology, a global machine comparison feature for the independent determination of machine capability, repeatability and repair diagnostics.

The company says prices for the upgraded unit will be lower, but adds that pricing information is not yet available.

Hunkar Laboratories, Inc.
Cincinnati, OH