Electronic Batch Processing

Isn't that just another way of saying automation?

No, not really. It’s our implementation of The Industrial Internet of Things, which is the process of connecting sensors and platforms to the Cloud so that machines and people can report their status to one another.  Our version focuses IIoT on the real-world needs of process batch manufacturers, providing actionable information to and from the factory floor all the way to and from management.

 

Electronic Batch Processing (“EBP”) is an umbrella term for IIoT-enabled solutions, covering several products, each designed to be responsive to the needs of the process batch manufacturer.  And IIoT, being the engine of the Smart Factory, means that Electronic Batch Processing is the simplest, most flexible gateway for control of your entire business.  But let’s leave out the jargon and get to the essence:

 

Electronic Batch Processing is the application of Internet-connected modern electronic and software methods to the optimization of process batch factories. 

 

That's a broad statement that includes automation, for sure, but also a host of products that enable decision-making based on accurate information delivered whenever needed.  EBP for the Smart Factory goes beyond the batch tank to include formulation, scale-up, inventory, maintenance, energy-use, and financial management.  Given the range of EBP's capabilities in the Smart Factory, for the manufactured batch itself optimization is an insufficient objective: batch perfection is a practical goal. Manufacture perfect batches.

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Sometimes automation is the best solution ... but not always!

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Lola knows that the most effective way to start addressing your problems is to listen to you - really carefully. Your need is unique because your products, your personnel and your infrastructure are like no one else's.   And your customers' demands are changeable without notice.  You have a lot riding on the decisions you make.  The way ANA shows that we get it is by offering you options that allow you to customize your own solution. Yes, these products all use the Internet – EPB is, after all, IIoT – but there are many ways to cost-effectively capture and exploit the data, communication and control that you need.

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We understand that with benefits come costs.  And not just cash outlays.  There's possible interruption of production ("installation"); disruption of production ("training"); and modification of production ("a better way"). These are very real concerns.

 

So let's be realistic:

the second half of the definition of Electronic Batch Processing is ...

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The allocation of these modern Internet-connected electronic and software methods must be consistent with optimizing the user's cost/benefit ratio. 

 

In other words, even within the EBP suite, more expensive products are not always preferable. Understanding  that every EBP product provides  virtually instantaneous ROI is liberating; there is no need to hesitate upgrading your processes.  Importantly, these IIoT-ready technologies are immediately useful, with some up and running the first day.  No longer is it necessary to hesitate because of the expense, the upset to routine, the anxiety of getting staff familiar with new ways.  

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It helps that we have thoroughly fresh solutions.

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Lola can help because we supply solutions for every budget and for factories of any condition.  From the very most basic human-machine connection, TraKit, a first step on the IIoT road, all the way to addition of control systems and reliance on Internet-mediated automation – and steps in between - ANA’s Electronic Batch Processing provides the options that allow you to cost-effectively design your Smart Factory.  For some it will be enough to add electronic observation - Internet-driven video and text - to their normal routines, leaving most of the effort to the operators; others may elect to rely more on measurements and hard data.  And others may indeed choose to be more measurement/data intensive, especially when realizing how ANA supports you with intuitive analysis tools.  Electronic Batch Processing is a strategy of using electronic/software aids to  "do whatever it takes using whatever you have" to make the best process batches possible.   

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Whatever solution we arrive at together, the result will always be an advance, one joining "human and machine" in an effort to achieve perfection.