Shifts in attitude and expectations across many industries

The safety marketplace today is dominated by several key trends. The first is that more manufacturers are realizing that increased safety does not have to mean reduced profitability and efficiency. They now see that a well-designed and well-implemented safety system can actually increase productivity and, therefore, profits.

The second emerging trend is an increased focus that companies are placing on their safety records and processes, which are becoming as important to manufacturers as their output reports and cost reduction efforts. This is causing shifts in the way equipment is designed: instead of installing safety components as an afterthought on an existing control system, engineers are now considering their safety control options early in the design process.

The third change is an increased emphasis on integration of safety and non-safety control. There is often overlap and redundancy between these separate systems installed today, so manufacturers are looking for ways to save money by combining the two. With the above changes come some shifts in customers’ opinions and expectations. First, machine builders are no longer willing to accept safety components as an add-on to their machine that brings added cost. Second, company safety officers wish to demonstrate to their employees (and their insurance companies) that their systems are designed from the ground up to keep workers safe. Third, the machine builder’s design engineer is striving to save money and stay ahead of evolving regulatory requirements through constant improvements in safety components and systems. Fourth, as safety products become more and more commonplace, the factory maintenance team expects the same efficiencies and conveniences they enjoy on their non-safety controls to be incorporated into their safety controls. Finally, each of these people wants help. They want the company from whom they buy their safety products to also be their partner in safety – a partner who advises them on the best ways to improve their safety systems, who keeps them up to date on changes to regulations and who helps them stay in compliance with evolving standards.

Choosing a source for machine safety solutions involves special considerations beyond those for other types of industrial automation. Today, the complete partner in safety meets the expectations described above and exceeds the needs of its customers in four major ways:

Full safety consulting services and global technical support help customers optimize their systems and protect their employees. Machine safety is a sensitive subject for many machine builders. Even with years of experience applying basic interlock switches to machines, creating more complete safety solutions can throw seasoned engineers into doubt. Today, a safety solution provider must supply not only products, but also the expertise to guide customers through the application of those products and the required certification processes for each region in which they are used. Once the equipment is in place, the safety supplier must also be able to provide high-quality ongoing technical support in those regions to provide engineers at the installation site with the information they need to keep their safety systems running properly. This allows companies to implement global safety measures at plant sites around the world.

The more one can integrate the safety functions of a control system with its non-safety functions, the better the opportunity one has to reduce equipment redundancies, improve productivity and save money. The most obvious way to achieve this is to use the same equipment in a system for safety and non-safety control. This lowers the number of unique components in use on the factory floor, which reduces crib inventory costs as well as training requirements for the maintenance team. New products supporting both aspects of control will become increasingly popular in the future.

Another good opportunity to integrate safety and non-safety control is through networking. The introduction of networks to the plant floor has brought many benefits to manufacturers including enhanced productivity, reduced wiring and installation, improved diagnostics and easier access to plant floor data. Extending an existing network to include safety information also extends those same benefits, allowing seamless communication of the complete automation process on one standard network with one set of hardware and wiring.

A prime example of this is the concept of distributed I/O. Although this is certainly not a new idea – it has been available for use with standard PLCs for many years – this money-saving option is only recently available on safety PLCs. It helps the machine builder save installation time by reducing the need to run individual wires back to the PLC chassis. Other examples are the expansion of existing interlock switch families to include quick-disconnect options and the introduction of safety connection systems. Previously utilized on non-safety control systems for many years, connectorization has allowed customers to save valuable installation time when applying components. Using safety connection systems to wire a grouping of interlock switches reduces not only installation time but also troubleshooting time because the series wiring required between the switches is automatically and accurately accomplished by simply plugging each switch into a safety distribution box.

This includes types of controls that in the past had not been considered as safety products such as drives, distribution boxes and networks. This provides a more complete solution and gives designers more technology options to achieve plant safety.

Keeping component designs up to date requires active participation in industry wide co-development of safety standards. The component manufacturer must then utilize that experience to proactively develop products which support upcoming changes in legislation.

Irby has the technical expertise to assist you with your safety requirements. Call your Irby Technical Specialist today.