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System-integrated IIoT with
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www.beckhoff.us/Industrie40
Beckhoff provides the ideal foundational technologies for Industrie 4.0 and Internet of
Things (Io T) applications via standard PC-based control. With the TwinCAT engineering
and control software, machine control systems can be extended to support big data
applications, cloud communication, predictive maintenance, as well as comprehensive
analytical functions to increase production efficiency. As a system-integrated solution,
TwinCAT Io T supports standardized protocols for cloud communication and enables the
easy integration of cloud services right from the machine engineering stage. In addition
to fault analysis and predictive maintenance, TwinCAT Analytics offers numerous
opportunities to optimize machines and systems in terms of energy consumption and
process sequences.
April 8–11, 2019
South Hall, Booth 4512
allowing them to tailor the maintenance inspection process to each of
the many different types of vehicles
in the company’s fleet.
It also helps create a better work
environment, according to leaders
at Honeywell Safety & Productivity
Solutions, which partnered with
Penske to develop the voice-directed
system.
“With this solution, workers make
fewer errors, have higher job satis-
faction rates, and are more produc-
tive,” says Taylor Smith, president
of Honeywell’s Workflow Solutions
business. “Penske’s transportation
expertise and Honeywell’s software and
hardware are delivering gains in compli-
ance, quality, and productivity.”
DEVELOPING THE SOLUTION
Penske managers worked with Honeywell
and technology partner Vitech to customize the voice-directed maintenance
and inspection system. The partnership
stretches back to 2012, when Penske
Logistics, a Penske Truck Leasing subsidiary, implemented voice-directed technology from Honeywell and Vitech for
warehouse picking operations. Mangione
says Penske was immediately interested in
using similar technology to guide technicians through the vehicle inspection process but soon learned it would require a
fair amount of research and development
because the technology companies hadn’t
yet applied the solution in that way.
“We spent a few years going from
concept to [implementation], working
in teams to develop it,” says Mangione.
“There are similarities in how we use it for
warehousing, but a lot of customization
has been built in the background.”
Penske’s system combines a robust,
high-speed indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi
network with rugged mobile tablet devic-
es, supplemented with Honeywell’s
voice-directed preventive maintenance
and inspection (M&I) solution, which
uses voice-directed technology from
Vitech. Wearing a headset, technicians
are guided through the vehicle preven-
tive maintenance inspections via voice
prompts—basically, the voice M&I solu-
tion walks them through a series of check-
lists, incorporating voice commands and
technicians’ verbal responses. Technicians
interact with a display on the rugged tab-
lets to review images or descriptions. Their
spoken responses are then converted to
text and communicated back to Penske’s
data system with real-time updates.
Mangione says Penske’s technicians
were a crucial part of the research and
development phase, providing insight
and feedback along the way.
“We were careful to involve technicians
in the development process,” he says,
pointing to concerns Penske had about
technicians’ reaction to having to wear a
headset on the job, for one thing. “But we
