Thomas Butler Engineering (TBE) was established in 1998 by husband and wife team Thomas and Joan Butler. Over the last 20 years the company has grown into a well-established manufacturer of wire forming machinery, with over a hundred machines installed worldwide. TBE's Multiform machines are used to produce complicated wire forms, springs and assemblies for many industries including the automotive, agricultural, construction and medical sectors.
Proprietary machine control technology had served the company well, but over the last few years, TBE knew that this needed updating to reflect the growing demands of the market. It required a new approach to automating its machines. These were already DeviceNet-driven, but customer feedback was highlighting certain limitations, particularly with regard to set-up procedures. TBE reasoned that in order to take its machines to the next level, it had to address these issues. The multi-axis DeviceNet architecture was running software written and patented by TBE, and while this was capable of controlling up to eight axes, customers were demanding more, as TBE managing director, Thomas Butler explains.
"Our existing hardware was doing a great job, but we soon realised that it had limitations above and beyond the eight-axis count. It became clear that a new approach was needed and we had to go out there to find a supplier that could offer everything we needed. In this day and age, putting all your eggs in one basket, when it comes to specifying automation hardware, is not as risky as the saying suggests. We needed to get away from our multiple-vendor approach; in short we needed a single supplier that could offer us plug-and-play, seamless product interaction, global support and a reliable worldwide supplier of parts. Rockwell Automation ticked all the boxes."
Rockwell’s Integrated Architecture system addressed all of TBE's concerns regarding its existing hardware, providing the necessary additional functionality, flexibility and scalability. The system is based on Allen-Bradley hardware, including a ControlLogix programmable automation controller (PAC), Kinetix 6000 servo drives, PowerFlex drives and PanelView Plus HMIs. Additional products from the Rockwell portfolio include safety components - MSR relays and SensaGuard switches - plus various LV components. The whole system communicates via the EtherNet/IP industrial Ethernet protocol to ensure full integration.
"The way it all marries together is impressive," says Mr Butler. "There was very little additional integration to be done. The PAC immediately plugs into the drive which, in turn, plugs into the motor with instant recognition on all counts – the same being true of the HMI and other components. This is just what we needed and something that is almost impossible with equipment from a variety of suppliers. Thanks to the hardware and the EtherNet/IP protocol, we have recently developed a 16-axis machine. Indeed, the number of axes we can now define and control is almost limitless."
TBE has seen a number of immediate benefits as a result of the new hardware approach, one of the most important being the time taken to develop new machines from the concept stage. Mr Butler recalls taking an order for a new machine in May and being able to deliver it by the middle of September, cutting development time in half to just four months. He pays special tribute to the Rockwell team for its efforts, including Kevin Wright, the OEM sales manager and Stuart Ashmore, the global OEM technical contact assigned to TBE. "Any issues are dealt with swiftly and efficiently, with after-hours and weekend work often being undertaken by Stuart."
Another bonus arising from the automation upgrade was increased productivity. TBE’s machines now offer a 17-20% performance improvement over previous models, and the company is now investigating retrofit opportunities with some of its existing customers in order to pass on these performance gains. TBE’s customers have more powerful, more productive machines plus the benefit of Rockwell’s global parts and service offering, and a streamlined customer training regime, as Mr Butler explains.
"It used to take one week to train a user to operate our machines, now it takes just three days. From a service angle, we have also seen the fruits of the relationship. We had a requirement for an extra software feature on a machine in Holland and one of the Dutch Rockwell Automation service technicians quickly went in to fix it after we had sent him the new code – we looked like heroes thanks to this support function!" Then there is the whole issue of machine safety.
"We sell a lot of machines to Canada, which has extremely demanding safety compliance legislation," says Mr Butler. "In the past, we have had to get machinery certified for the Canadian market, which demands three backups within the safety system. The certification process can be long and tedious but thanks to Rockwell we no longer have to face the rigmarole of additional certification as the hardware is already CSA approved."
TBE's next step is to develop a common software platform for all of its machines, giving customers more performance gains and functionality dividends. The company is now able to offer its customers a truly impressive line up of machines with demonstrable increases in performance.
"We really had reached the limits of our machine's capabilities and the new hardware is allowing us to offer the increased performance and agility demanded by our customers,” Mr Butler concludes. "Faster project turnaround, increased productivity and enhanced safety compliance are key competitive advantages in the current challenging economic environment.