Are new factory technologies replacing human workers or are they giving them extra abilities so they can focus more on what makes humans irreplaceable in plants? A look at the latest crop of technologies transforming factories suggests the answer is both—at least for now. • Some new tools, including wearable devices and sensors, are helping employees work more safely and efficiently. But others are designed to slash labor costs, such as having machines—unassisted by any human—make parts overnight or move an engine across a factory floor. • Helping drive the advances is the next generation of cellular technology known as 5G, which will enable tens of thousands of machines, robots and products to be connected to the same network at higher speeds than ever before. 5G will pave the way for a whole slate of new technologies to move beyond the drawing board and into actual use.
Boutique networks
Factories can be Wi-Fi coldspots. With many nooks and crannies and obstacles that block signals, factory floors aren’t well suited for wireless signals.
“There is a lot of equipment, a lot of machines, a lot of metal,” says Michael Berendsen, vice president for information technology at appliance maker Whirlpool Corp.
To solve the problem, some manufacturers are building boutique 5G networks inside their plants. 5G relies on a larger number of smaller antennas than current cellular networks, which makes it challenging to deploy across cities but ideal for covering factory floors.
Whirlpool is testing a 5G network across 200,000 square feet at a factory in Clyde, Ohio. A couple of dozen autonomous vehicles that ferry parts around the facility currently rely on Wi-Fi and stop moving when they lose connection to the network. Whirlpool is converting some of those vehicles to 5G, aiming to reduce costly stoppages that can delay washing-machine production.
“We believe 5G will provide better coverage and be more consistent,” Mr. Berendsen says.
If successful, Whirlpool says it could add 5G to more of its factories and find additional uses for it.
Augmented vision
Some firms are expanding their use of augmented reality, in which objects in the real world are enhanced with computer-generated information.
Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. is using the technology at a shipyard in Newport News, Va., where workers build portions of huge military ships on land and then hoist them into the ship. The temporary support structures that ensure those segments stay intact when they are being moved were once painted a different color, so workers would know to remove them as the ship started to take shape.
“We would paint it and then we would completely lose track of it,” says Chief Information Officer Bharat Amin.
Now, employees use tablet computers to digitally identify the beams. The temporary structures light up on the screen, which is faster and more accurate than hunting for them using design drawings, Mr. Amin says.
Other companies are using virtual reality to speed up training times and reduce production stoppages. Fiber maker Invista, owned by Koch Industries, has created a virtual-reality training tool to teach workers how to string hot nylon threads through machinery.
Invista says about 10 people have been trained on the tool so far, learning how to weave in about four weeks versus the normal five months.
“It really is hyper-realistic,” says Adam Brooks, a business systems analyst for Invista’s digital-plant team.
Smart hands
Wearable devices and sensors—which have gotten cheaper, smaller and lighter—are allowing some factory employees to work faster and more safely.
Some manufacturers use sensors to track workers’ exposure to sound and heat that can lead to injuries over time. Others are testing sensors designed to stop workers from operating heavy equipment if it detects they are too sleepy.
“We can place them almost anywhere on the body now,” says Lora Cavuoto, a University at Buffalo engineering professor who has studied the use of sensors to track worker fatigue.
Elsewhere, Lufthansa Technik AG, a provider of maintenance and repair services to airlines, is rolling out gloves with built-in scanners at a Florida warehouse to speed up the delivery of aircraft parts to customers. The gloves vibrate when a priority package arrives, so workers know to handle it first.
Employees prefer the technology, called ProGlove, to hand-held bar-code scanners because it is lighter and easier to use, says Harald Kolbe, head of digital innovation at Lufthansa Technik’s logistic services division.
ProGlove says the gloves can cut up to four seconds off the scanning of each package, which adds up for companies that handle thousands of orders a day.
Unattended running
A new generation of machines equipped with better-quality sensors and other embedded technologies is allowing some factories to produce parts without a single worker present.
“In order to compete, you have to get into unattended running,” says Dave Polito, chief executive of QualityMTS, a supplier of metal-parts machines that are capable of running overnight.
Wagner Machine Inc., a Norton, Ohio, manufacturer of custom metal parts, has invested about $1.2 million in new metal-forming equipment to enable unattended running, says President Courtney Wagner.
Once set up by skilled workers, the new machine is capable of making parts for about 20 hours a day, including overnight when no one is present. That is about twice as long as the company’s traditional machines, which must be run by human operators. The company says the new equipment will allow it to quickly boost production when business heats up.
“When you want to take advantage of those feast moments, lights-out manufacturing seemed like a way to go,” Ms. Wagner says.
Employees at Wagner’s machine shop can communicate with the unattended machine through their smartphones, which alert them if there’s an emergency or something breaks. So far, workers have had to come back into the shop in the middle of the night about three times to fix things like leaking coolant, Ms. Wagner says.
A new dimension
Some factories are turning to 3-D imaging to simplify and improve quality control.
Whereas cumbersome manual inspections used to be the norm, many manufacturers now rely on hand-held 3-D scanners to ensure finished products aren’t too tall or too wide.
Willman Industries Inc., a foundry in Cedar Grove, Wis., that produces metal castings, is one such company.
Willman Industries is expanding how it uses 3-D scanners, to reduce mistakes and speed up production.
Photo: Darren Hauck for The Wall Street JournalThe scanner “shows you the entire surface of the casting and how it varies from the nominal model,” says sales manager Harold Hunter.
Willman says the scanners are so easy to master, it can hire temporary workers to perform inspections, which frees up its higher-paid skilled workers to focus on more-profitable tasks.
The company is now expanding how it uses 3-D scanners. It is scanning parts and assembling them virtually to reduce mistakes and speed up production.
“Time savings and cost savings are the two biggest drivers,” Mr. Hunter says. “There are just so many ways we are using 3-D imaging.”
Mr. Hufford is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in Chicago. Email him at austen.hufford@wsj.com.
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