Fouch understood that sensors, such as automated ones, could be used to identify the causes of the holes-punching problems. But with so many options, he wasn’t sure where to begin. “The worst thing you can do, in a smaller business especially, is muddle through pilot purgatory, hoping to find a viable product,” He says. “When someone else has done it before, they know the viable path, and they can save you the time and the expense.”
This is what Apple engineers and managers offered to Fouch and Quinn Shanahan when they visited the Manufacturing Academy in November and October, respectively. Over what Fouch estimates was five hours, the Apple employees evaluated Polygon’s challenges and applied the industrial engineering equation of Little’s Law—which can identify capacity bottlenecks—to devise solutions.
The end result was an elaborate strategy mapping sensors and software which could track production at a reasonable cost and alert to anomalies. Polygon now has the ability to track the number of times the tube passes through the grinder. It will also be able, in the near future, to identify whether the problem is due to an overheated machine or some other factor, says Shanahan.
Fouch said that, if everything goes to plan, Polygon can implement a functional system for its bottlenecks, and do so at no cost more than $50,000. This is a far cry from the $5000 an automation consulting firm might have asked. Apple’s team will be visiting Polygon soon to discuss upgrades. “They have walked these paths before,” Fouch says. “Without their help, it’s going to take us much longer.”
Apple’s Herrera believes that giving small producers a better understanding of the automation benefits and other technology could lead to them working with consultants and investing in expensive systems.
Two other academy participants tell WIRED that they have not received extensive assistance from Apple—Herrera says it comes down to which companies have prepared a “problem statement” that Apple can help with—but they are working to bring what they learned to their factories. Jack Kosloski says that hearing the extent of Apple’s testing for its products was an eye-opener.
