Whilst the industrial market in Ireland may be considered small by comparison with other European regions it does in fact offer bedrock of high tech manufacturing industries, many of which are keen to implement the latest in lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0 concepts.
Werma Signaltechnik has been an exhibitor at the Dublin show since it began and has seen the exhibition and conference grow in popularity. The January 2020 show for the first time took place over two days and attracted a record number of exhibitors and visitors.
“The show offers Werma a unique opportunity to show and demonstrate its systems and solutions to a wide and divers demographic of Irish industry” comments MD Simon Adams. ”This year it was noticeable that more and more visitors were coming to the exhibition looking for new ideas and solutions. Almost all of our visitors were looking for simple, easy to use monitoring systems rather than the more complex process monitoring systems available, in a nutshell, they want real time data on up and down-time of machines so that early responses to production disruption can take place. We were able to take away a large number of new contacts and potential interest in our systems which would have been impossible to generate in any other way other than exhibiting at the show.”
The main industries which are using Werma’s innovative process optimisation systems include the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Many of the companies in these segments are themselves global operations and have often selected the systems upon recommendation from their other group companies.
The easy to install and simple to use machine monitoring and data collection system SmartMonitor combines andon lights giving a visual signalisation of the status of the machine as well as transmitting status changes wirelessly to the software package which provides the user with clear runtime and productivity views backed up by data for further analysis.
The applications for the system are wide, from the machining of components for the manufacture of prosthetic limbs to plastic bag and packaging manufacture for pharmaceuticals. It is not just the higher end technical applications which Werma are tapping into in the Irish market.
The leading Irish pet food manufacturer has installed a simple andon light system on their baking ovens to ensure baked products are removed in a timely manner and fresh product loaded up, thus ensuring best utilisation of the baking capacity.
Whilst it is quite simple to define the principal industrial area as being Dublin, the South Est, Cork and then North West region around Shannon many other companies are located quite randomly on small industrial parks or private land. Werma specialises in manufacturing andon lights for machine tools and therefore one of the most interesting markets is the retrofitting of machine up and down-time monitoring in businesses involved in sub-contract manufacturing and machining. Not surprisingly such companies are often supplying the medical and pharma industries but there is also a well-established market for sub-contracting for the aerospace and automotive industries.
Werma’ intelligent process optimisation systems at a glance:
WERMA is the leading European manufacturer of industrial beacons and sounders and also innovative smart and intelligent systems for manufacturing and logistics processes.
SmartMONITOR uses conventional andon lights but with the addition of a wireless transmitIncreasing demand for lean manufacturing and process optimisation systems confirmed by Werma at the recent Manufacturing and Supply Chain Expo in Dublinter and receiver kit to monitor up and down time of machines and equipment and also collect other relevant data on machine performance.
Also being demonstrated is AndonSPEED, an andon light based wireless call for action system which is proving popular in many online retail warehousing operations as well as industrial operations. The system will identify bottlenecks in the warehouse system and speed up response to disruptions to production. In addition a range of our well known beacon and sounder devices will be on show including the very latest designs with new features.
An innovative Kanban stock monitoring and replenishment system StockSAVER is being shown at the event. It uses intelligent monitoring points to monitor and manage line side stock levels and automatically generate replenishment calls wirelessly.
WERMA UK Ltd
