Hi mechatronics fans!

Welcome to this new post in our Sinadrives blog.

February 2023

We all know that a breakdown in an industrial machine costs a lot of money. The machine operator is left idle and no manufacturing is taking place, but the costs remain the same. If the machine is part of a production line, the breakdown can affect the entire line, possibly preventing hundreds of workers from performing their tasks and interrupting hundreds of processes. The incurred costs may run to hundreds of thousands of euros for each hour of stoppage.

This blog post is especially aimed at machine manufacturers who design and manufacture industrial machines. The subject we’re going to look at today is very broad, and from a theoretical perspective has many nuances, but today we’re just going to focus on the ways in which manufacturers can prevent the premature breakdown of their machinery or breakdowns that take a long time to fix.

At the end of the day, the goal is for the end customer (the user of the machine) to be able to provisionally solve the problem by their own means until the replacement parts arrive. Here are a few tips and basic rules for providing customers with a user-friendly experience:

The first rule is “Simply the Best”. The phrase says it all: the simpler the design, the easier it is for end users to understand what’s wrong. If they understand what’s happened, they can carry out a full repair themselves, carry out a provisional repair, or give the manufacturer a precise description of the problem. None of us likes to hear the phrase “It’s not working”. We’d like the customer to be able to give a more precise description of the problem, such as: “The belt feeder is stuck because the drive pulley is loose.” This way we know that we have to send the customer the drive pulley mechanism and some related parts. In order for the customer to be able to determine what exactly has gone wrong, the design has to have clear functional groups, accessibility and diagnosability. To help the customer identify the problem at a glance, avoid “hiding” parts inside the machine.

During the design phase, use standardised components: screws, pulleys, guides, cylinders, etc. If you use customised components, the risk is that the end user won’t be able to solve any problem without your spare parts. Although customisation is used as a survival tactic by some machine builders today, we don’t recommend adopting a strategy that makes end users feel beholden to you.
There’s nothing easier than getting some replacement parts from a local supplier, so aim to use the type of components that are available worldwide.

There are two possible strategies in this regard: either your customer acquires a list of recommended wear-and-tear components with the machine and has them ready for quick replacements, or you, as the machine manufacturer, stock these consumables or spare parts, whether in your own facilities or in those of your local partners, and guarantee their supply within 24 hours.

Try to reduce the number of parts in the total assembly. It’s easier to handle an assembly of 50 parts than one of 100 parts. Another tip is to design equipment in such a way that functional groups (for example: a bridge, a complete headstock or an electrical cabinet) can be easily replaced. If your customer has to remove part after part to get to a broken component, this will only work against you when they buy their next machine.

This is possibly the most important aspect of all. Preventive maintenance not only reduces the risk of unexpected breakdowns, but also increases turnover and maximises customer loyalty. In our experience, the best approach is to offer a maintenance contract with the purchase of the machine. This contract may include a visit by your technician to the customer’s premises on a quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis, or according to whatever schedule best suits you. The maintenance visit allows you to see how your machine is being used, how happy the customer is, which components suffer the most, etc. You can carry out a fault study and incorporate improvements in the design process of a new machine.
Of course, the maintenance contract must be a paid service. Your technician’s visit will include an analysis of the state of repair of the machine, along with a report and recommendations for the replacement of certain components. This will enable you to stay ahead of the game, build customer loyalty and invoice this type of maintenance on an annual basis.

With modern control components like PLCs or CNCs, you can monitor what’s happening with your machine. You can receive alerts, stoppage notifications or even data from various sensors, such as wear-and-tear sensors, vibration sensors, etc. You can see if the end user is carrying out maintenance tasks (greasing, cleaning, etc.), and you can even see production data such as operational hours, idle hours, number of parts, etc.
Having remote access in order to perform diagnostic tasks can save a lot of stress with potential breakdowns.

Having a machine in one’s own facilities (or in those of a nearby customer) to perform thorough service life testing helps to foresee future problems. Specific groups can be tested separately at the company’s facilities in order to analyse and improve them.
In the old days, all components used to go through the test bench process. Nowadays this is not so easy, due to greater pressure from the markets to launch new, more competitive products.

We’re referring to basic, general advice that you probably already apply. Let’s review it:

If in doubt, go one size up. Upgrading from an M5 to an M6 screw doesn’t cost more, but it doubles the load capacity. The same applies to bearings, motors, linear guides, motors, etc.

This basically consists of increasing the distances between the components that support any load. Examples:
– A linear axis with two skates has a longer service life if the distance between the two skates is greater, since this reduces the load per skate.
– Three support points are better than two on a rotating axis, since this helps avoid vibrations or warping.
Parts that vibrate, warp or that are overloaded tend to suddenly break.

Indeed, there are components that have little or no wear and tear. Air bearings, linear motors, torque motors, etc. are maintenance-free and friction-free components, which means they don’t suffer from wear and tear. The use of these components not only allows you to ensure that the machinery doesn’t break down, but also gives your customers peace of mind, safe in the knowledge that they can trust your products. And if your customer trusts you, they’ll speak well of you and your brand, and buy more.

If you’re interested in finding out how linear motors, linear axes and torque motors can improve the durability of your machine, just call us and we’ll conduct a free-of-charge, no-obligation feasibility study. We have customers who’ve completed more than 30 million cycles or 50,000 hours of operation without replacing a single part.

If you have an application in which you’re keen to improve the performance of your machine, be it in terms of speed, dynamics, precision or simply reducing maintenance needs, please contact us.

Our specialists in Direct Drive technology and Linear Modules with linear motor technology will be happy to advise you free of charge.

Draw your own conclusions. Decide which innovation you want to implement in your machine to be competitive. We can help you.

Your SINADRIVES Team.