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Posts tagged systems integration

What do Systems Engineers do?

Jul29
2011 8 Comments Written by Phranc

So I’m still out in Tucson writing specifications for a pretty big integration job that’s coming up quickly. This is really not my forte’, I’m more of a design and programming sort of guy. What my days have consisted of for the last couple of weeks is talking to people from a variety of engineering disciplines about their current designs and plans for the future, writing requirements for all of these smaller machines and subsystems with the goal of creating a statement of work (SOW) that various vendors (including ourselves) can quote to. As these discussions proceed, a lot of ideas are tossed around and interesting solutions to problems are found. In general, when I’m talking to mechanical, controls or software people things move along pretty smoothly, but there seem to be a lot of middle level management people involved that somewhat complicate things.

Quite a few of the people I have been dealing with are known as Systems Engineers. So I asked one of them today what he usually does at this company, does he design, or manage projects or what? He said no, he usually spends a lot of time writing specifications and documents to make sure that those who are managing, designing or otherwise implementing are doing their jobs correctly. A lot of the mid level management people it turns out are Systems Engineers.

I am out here with a total of six people including myself to do nothing but gather all of this information and organize it into these specifications, requirements documents and SOWs. Much of the delay associated with completing our task has to do with getting information from the various Systems Engineers involved with different aspects of the project: security, safety, IT, production etc. So if we are talking to the designers and getting most of the technical information from the other engineers and designers, and we are writing all of the specifications and requirements, and Systems Engineers usually write specifications and other documents but obviously aren’t writing these requirements documents, what exactly do Systems Engineers do? They have certainly been sitting in on our discussions, but considering they have been involved in this project for at least the last couple of years and this fairly critical work hasn’t been done I have really been wondering what they typically do all day.

So far I am seeing a lot of similarities to the comic strip “Dilbert” in my recent activities. I am not sure if this is a symptom of larger companies or government-related work, but I am truly going to enjoy being back in a position where I can speak my mind again. Part of being in a larger company involves playing your role and not stepping on other’s toes, but as a technical person sometimes I’d really like to be able to apply technical solutions to business and organizational problems. The question is, will anyone listen?

And what the heck do Systems Engineers do?

Posted in Consulting, Integration, Trades

Filter Tester

May29
2011 1 Comment Written by Phranc

Filter Tester during fabrication

In another post I described an air filter tester built with NAS in the late 1990s. These testers were for automotive filters and generally were built around a single automation concept; a Cosmo leak tester or vision system for instance. At that time most of the machines I worked on or built were fairly small and generally made of aluminum extrusion.

After I closed my small integration and machine building company in 2006 I went to work for a much larger machine building company where I am currently still employed. The first project I was assigned to was another filter tester, this time for respirator filters. This machine was much larger than the single purpose machines I had built for testing previously.

Tester Infeed section


It illustrates the integration aspects of machine building pretty well. The infeed section was purchased and integrated to a cleated conveyor built in house.

Inspect and Reject rotary dial


Parts were transferred from the infeed section into an inspection area where a computer based Cognex vision system was used to inspect the printing on the filters. Rejected filters were dumped into a tote. The filters exited the rotary dial in two lanes and were transferred to a cell where a robot placed the filters into one of eight testers.

Inside Test Area


Failed filters were once again ejected into a plastic tote from a cleated exit conveyor. Filters wer then conveyed into a packaging machine, another example of integrating machines made by a third party into a complete system for the customer.

Packaging and Labeling


This system was my idea of the ideal machine to work on. It had many different automation elements from vision to robotics to integration, it went through the progression of design-build-startup-installation (I’ve already mentioned my love for travel…). Overall the most enjoyable system I have worked on in my current position. Three of these systems were built and I was able to travel to two different locations for installation including one international site. If only all systems followed such a logical progression!

Posted in Applications, Integration, Packaging, Test Equipment, gauging, vision - Tagged ,

Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing

May25
2011 1 Comment Written by Phranc

As part of my preparation for moving back into the consulting world I recently signed up for a series of classes and certifications through Purdue University on Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing. These classes lead to certification as a green and then a black belt in Six Sigma techniques. So what is Six Sigma and how does it relate to automation?

Six Sigma is a business process that allows companies to improve their bottom line by designing and monitoring everyday business activities in ways that minimize waste and resources while increasing customer satisfaction. Six Sigma guides companies into making fewer mistakes in everything they do, from filling out a purchase order to manufacturing a complex product, eliminating lapses in quality at the earliest possible occurrence. Quality control programs have focused on detecting and correcting commercial, industrial and design defects. Six Sigma encompasses something broader, it provides specific methods to re-create the process so that defects and errors never arise in the first place.

Without measuring a company’s processes and its changes to these processes its impossible to know where you are or where you are going. Some of the tenets of Six Sigma are:

    We don’t know what we don’t know.
    We can’t do what we don’t know.
    We won’t know until we measure.
    We don’t measure what we don’t value.
    We don’t value what we don’t measure.

Six Sigma techniques are often used along with other aspects such as JIT (Just-In-Time), Kanban and Kaizen in the Lean Manufacturing process.

So how do these things relate to automation? Well, often the solutions to correcting inefficient processes involve automating a process to remove human error or making measurements to verify quality. In last couple of years I have been involved in several projects that involved the analysis of customer processes and projects to identify the proper solution. That solution often involves changes to not only the manufacturing process but often the business and operational processes also. Unfortunately my current position only enables me to identify improvements from the technical side, whereas the best solution often involves changes to the operations and business side. I hope to become a more well rounded solution for customers by receiving this training, though my concentration will probably usually still be on the technical aspects.

Six Sigma techniques should be a useful technique to add to my system integrator toolbox.

Posted in Consulting, Lean Manufacturing, Techniques - Tagged , ,

Systems Integration

Apr14
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Phranc

For the last twenty years or so I have worked in the controls, machine building and systems integration fields, generally involved with automation on some level. I understand the controls and machine building part, they are pretty self-explanatory and descriptive really, but what is “Systems Integration”? I see ads in the paper advertising for systems integrators and they usually sound more like IT jobs to me.

The job I am currently involved with is a great example of what I would consider systems integration. On a low level there is the tieing together of devices that communicate using different protocols; RS-232, Ethernet and Ethernet/IP, several proprietary languages from different vendors etc. On a higher level there is the connection and interfacing of fairly self-contained systems and machinery. There are even mechanical systems that interface by pressing a plunger in as a vehicle comes up against a hard stop, lowering a safety pin to allow components to transit from one system to another. Really anytime you have to make two components interact or communicate with each other you are integrating systems.

With Systems Integration comes the ability to create. There are decisions to be made on the best and most seamless method of interfacing different things together. Often these decisions have to be reconsidered as the system grows, its almost as if you are designing a living organism. There are often very simple and very complex ways to do the same thing. Usually simple is best, but there are exceptions to this, often relating to the choice of components.

Much of the integration does end up being software related in the end. I guess thats why so many of the ads in the paper seem to be looking for programmers and IT guys, but without experience in the hardware and specification fields it isn’t enough to simply know software. Integrators often end up not being programmers at all but more of a combination of project manager and applications engineer. There are several companies in my area that advertise themselves as “Systems Integrators” but don’t really get involved with the hardware end at all. Personally I enjoy the variety that comes with doing a little bit of everything.

Happy Integrating!

Posted in Integration - Tagged ,

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