Editorial team
InfoWeb Marketplace · Editorial team
Published on 11 November 2013 · 3 min read
KIA Motors uses a ProSoft Technology wireless solution to control overhead cranes
InfoWeb Marketplace · Editorial teamPublished on 11 November 2013 · 3 min read
The ProSoft Technology wireless solution simplifies overhead crane maintenance at the KIA Motors production site.
When talking about the new 2013 version of the KIA Sportage, elegance and luxury are two words that come to mind. The KIA cee'd, meanwhile, is both sporty and economical, with models consuming less than 4 liters per hundred kilometers.
Before reaching the dealership, these new models, like any other car on the road, went through a whole series of processes at their original production site.
The KIA Motors plant in Slovakia, which produces the cee'd, the KIA Venga and the Sportage, decided to install industrial wireless solutions for its stamping operations, in order to enhance the safety of the personnel working on the site. The overhead crane controllers transmit the dies to be handled for each of the press lines. This is where parts such as doors, fenders and hoods are produced.
?We needed to connect the overhead cranes to a network so that we could access the controller from any maintenance computer in the press shop,? explains Tomas Potocar, engineer at KIA Motors.
The aim of the project was to be able to communicate with the Allen-Bradley ControlLogix controllers from the maintenance room.
Before industrial radios 802.11n from ProSoft Technology were used on the site, maintaining the overhead cranes was extremely tedious.
?The overhead cranes were difficult to reach, with no connection to the computers used by the maintenance department,? says Tomas Potocar.
As a result, engineers had to climb 14 m up stairs or a ladder to reach the crane's control device in order to connect it directly to a processing unit and run a diagnostic.
?When the crane was in its home position, maintenance technicians could reach its cabinet in 10 minutes. Now it can be accessed directly from the maintenance room,? says Josef Nekvinda, engineer at Rockwell Automation. Thanks to the ProSoft Technology wireless solution, the cranes can now be accessed at any time from the maintenance PC, which considerably reduces potential downtime.
With the ProSoft Technology wireless solution, each of the 5 overhead cranes has its own radio 802.11n, and one last radio was added in the maintenance room.
?During a trade show, we started discussing the specific needs of KIA Motors,? explains Tomas Potocar. By choosing the ProSoft Technology wireless solutions, KIA Motors wanted to be certain of having a permanent and reliable connection between the programmable controller and the maintenance network.
?I had already received all the necessary information, and I could see that ProSoft Technology knew very well which solutions we needed,? Tomas Potocar adds. ?The installation proved to be very simple.?
Implementing a wireless solution was much faster than if a wired solution had been adopted.
KIA Motors is completely satisfied with the solution. ?It helps us diagnose our overhead cranes and monitor the signals emitted during production from a safe location.?
The ProSoft Technology industrial wireless access point 802.11n has given KIA Motors fully reliable wireless network connectivity. These radios are optimized for demanding industrial performance and for easy on-site deployment. In addition, they comply with the IEEE 802.11n standard and MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) technology, both essential in industrial facilities.
Other features of these radios include a high data rate (up to 300Mbps), certifications for hazardous environments (UL class 1 division 2, ATEX zone 2), a wide operating temperature range, resistance to vibration and shock, DIN rail mounting, PoE (Power over Ethernet), and more.
When talking about the new 2013 version of the KIA Sportage, elegance and luxury are two words that come to mind. The KIA cee'd, meanwhile, is both sporty and economical, with models consuming less than 4 liters per hundred kilometers.
Before reaching the dealership, these new models, like any other car on the road, went through a whole series of processes at their original production site.
The KIA Motors plant in Slovakia, which produces the cee'd, the KIA Venga and the Sportage, decided to install industrial wireless solutions for its stamping operations, in order to enhance the safety of the personnel working on the site. The overhead crane controllers transmit the dies to be handled for each of the press lines. This is where parts such as doors, fenders and hoods are produced.
?We needed to connect the overhead cranes to a network so that we could access the controller from any maintenance computer in the press shop,? explains Tomas Potocar, engineer at KIA Motors.
The aim of the project was to be able to communicate with the Allen-Bradley ControlLogix controllers from the maintenance room.
Before industrial radios 802.11n from ProSoft Technology were used on the site, maintaining the overhead cranes was extremely tedious.
?The overhead cranes were difficult to reach, with no connection to the computers used by the maintenance department,? says Tomas Potocar.
As a result, engineers had to climb 14 m up stairs or a ladder to reach the crane's control device in order to connect it directly to a processing unit and run a diagnostic.
?When the crane was in its home position, maintenance technicians could reach its cabinet in 10 minutes. Now it can be accessed directly from the maintenance room,? says Josef Nekvinda, engineer at Rockwell Automation. Thanks to the ProSoft Technology wireless solution, the cranes can now be accessed at any time from the maintenance PC, which considerably reduces potential downtime.
With the ProSoft Technology wireless solution, each of the 5 overhead cranes has its own radio 802.11n, and one last radio was added in the maintenance room.
?During a trade show, we started discussing the specific needs of KIA Motors,? explains Tomas Potocar. By choosing the ProSoft Technology wireless solutions, KIA Motors wanted to be certain of having a permanent and reliable connection between the programmable controller and the maintenance network.
?I had already received all the necessary information, and I could see that ProSoft Technology knew very well which solutions we needed,? Tomas Potocar adds. ?The installation proved to be very simple.?
Implementing a wireless solution was much faster than if a wired solution had been adopted.
KIA Motors is completely satisfied with the solution. ?It helps us diagnose our overhead cranes and monitor the signals emitted during production from a safe location.?
The ProSoft Technology industrial wireless access point 802.11n has given KIA Motors fully reliable wireless network connectivity. These radios are optimized for demanding industrial performance and for easy on-site deployment. In addition, they comply with the IEEE 802.11n standard and MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) technology, both essential in industrial facilities.
Other features of these radios include a high data rate (up to 300Mbps), certifications for hazardous environments (UL class 1 division 2, ATEX zone 2), a wide operating temperature range, resistance to vibration and shock, DIN rail mounting, PoE (Power over Ethernet), and more.