A brief case study of NC system retrofitting done by local company in Malaysia

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CASE STUDY: NUMERICAL CONTROL (NC) SYSTEM RETROFITTING BY LOCAL
COMPANY IN MALAYSIA
This is a brief case study of retrofitting job of NC system done by a local company in
Malaysia.
Background
Company B is a major automotive manufacturer in Malaysia that design & produce
its own engine. The Engine plant contained machining lines equipped with dozens of
machinery with a mix of latest CNC machining centers & older special purpose NC
machines (machining).
One of the major issues the company faced until now is the obsolescence of the
machinery’s Control System (e.g. CNC, PLC, measuring system). The problem is very
severe with old special purpose NC machines (most have been in service for nearly
20 years). Difficulty in finding spare parts of the control system in the market &
frequent parts failure (servo motor, servo amp etc) added up to the number of woes
that the department needed to address quickly in order to minimize disruption to
their high-volume production plan.
Diagram 1: Relation between time & risk associated with control system approaching
its end of life cycle (FMA Process Engineering Limited, UK)
The management of the engine plant finally decided to go for upgrading or
replacement of the critical control system, however a few concerns arise;
a) The company practice when it comes to most high technology item is to
depend on foreign or oversea maker especially in machinery and it is also a
known fact that Malaysia does not produced its own machinery for
machining. So, the cost expenditure of appointing oversea supplier is usually
very high.
b) Most of the oversea supplier also don’t have full-fledge local service &
support team. They mainly support for servicing & parts replacement, not
total or complete System Replacement/Retrofitting.

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Proposal
The company then proceeds to invite a few candidates (established oversea
companies & potentially capable local companies) for the Control System
replacement job & after careful evaluation, one local company with relevant
experience & satisfactory capability was awarded with the job. Ichiryu Sdn. Bhd. was
given the task & immediately came out with full Project Specification, Schedule &
suggestions.
It should be noted that, the whole Control System Replacement plan involved a few
selected & critical machines, but this case study will focus on one machine only. The
machine involved is a special purpose NC drilling & milling machine for a certain
engine component.
Based on the Proposal, the table below showed the general technical specs for the
Control System Retrofitting.
COMPONENT OLD CONTROL SYSTEM NEW CONTROL SYSTEM
NC: Fanuc Powermate AController Type
PLC: Mitsubishi A series
PLC: Mitsubishi Q series & PLC-
based NC
Motor 2 servo motors 2 servo motors
Human
Machine
Interface (HMI)
None (only handheld unit for
servo motor positional
adjustment)
Mitsubishi GOT1000 series
Diagram 2: Example of the New Control System setup for PLC-based NC system with
HMI & servo units
The new controller is designed in a way that the parts, components & software of
the system are the most optimum for the machine's processes (1 axis, 2 ways of
cutting). The original control system utilized full CNC system but since the machine is
setup for one axis of cutting only, PLC-based NC system is chosen.
The proposed new control system had several clear advantages over its predecessor.
Almost all of the components, parts and hardware were reduced in size thus
providing space advantage & the new HMI serve many functions such as touch-
screen adjustment function for machining data and process simulation display (cycle
time etc) that will help to improve the machine efficiency.

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After a few rounds of discussion & some refinements in the proposal, the Control
System Retrofitting project is progressing as per plan.
Implementation
The actual installation process took approximately 2 weeks and the subsequent
monitoring run concurrently with the production process. The whole project took
around 4 to 5 months to complete from the first meeting until delivery &
commissioning.
Picture 1: Snapshots of the installation progress from dismantling, re-wiring &
installation of new system
Benefits
The successful Retrofitting of New NC System by the appointed local company has
pointed to a few but very significant benefits
a) Inexpensive Project Cost
Based on rough information obtained from the related parties, the total
Project Cost by the local company is only around 50% of the cost quoted by
oversea company, meaning a very huge cost saving for the client.
b) Local Technical Support Readily Available
The project experience showed that with local company, any urgent
breakdown or troubleshooting can be attend within a few hours only,
whereas an oversea company would need at least in average 3 days before
coming to Malaysia.

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c) Long Term Development for Industry in Malaysia
Company B has played a very positive role as a customer who is wiling to
provide opportunity to local company to deliver a relatively high-tech
modification / retrofitting project. Ichiryu Sdn Bhd given the chances to prove
their capability dedicated a very high commitment from the start of project
until the commissioning process.
In the future, more willing customer & capable local company should work
together to further develop & transform the local industry capability
especially in machinery & equipment modification, upgrading &
refurbishment job. (in this case, machine tools CNC/NC system)
Recommendation
The benefits of localizing such high skill & technical retrofitting (or modification) job
are tremendous & not just beneficial to a certain industrial sector. This is because
machinery & machine tools plays a very important role that supply & complement
other important sectors of the country, namely electrical & electronic industry, oil &
gas, metalworking & others.
Close collaboration between companies & suppliers is needed to spur more
opportunities such as one discussed in this case study where end user company of
machinery would benefit from inexpensive long term equipment & facility
maintenance program & small related local company shall develop their technical
skill & capability. Entity such as government & higher learning institution also should
be roped in to help & promote the development of this sector.
Bibliography
1. Project info sourced with permission from Ichiryu Sdn. Bhd.
2. “Obsolete Control System…? PLC Obsolescence – What should you consider?”
FMA Process Engineering Limited, United Kingdom
3. Melsec Q series, Mitsubishi Programmable Controller brochure, Mitsubishi
Electric Japan