Saved by software
08 September 2020
Steve Sands, Head of Product Management at Festo, revisits the beginning of the pandemic and the lessons he learnt and how the power of the Festo software suite saved him from drowning under the sheer volume of ventilator enquiries.
The UK Government launched the Ventilator Challenge on the 16 March and Festo UK’s phones immediately lit up. Within the government briefing documents was an academic paper written by a team of doctors, anaesthetists, and engineers at Swansea university describing a low oxygen consumption ventilator for use during a respiratory failure epidemic. The paper listed an example of Festo parts that could be used to build a reciprocating mechanism that used the medical gases to power the ventilator and then made efficient use of the, potentially scarce, oxygen by redirecting it into the patient breathing circuit.
The response to the challenge was amazing, with companies big and small, engineers, consultants, and innovators registering their willingness to help and downloading the information. We quickly established a workgroup of specialists to handle the questions flooding in. Everyone wanted assistance in designing their circuits, selecting and configuring the right product for their solution.
I joined the Festo GB Ventilator workgroup to contribute with my product and application experience. The team brought together an incredible spread of knowledge including previous ventilator development experience, proportional gas control, production, LifeTech devices and project management skills. Having been a long time in the pneumatic automation field I had seen a lot of pneumatic logic circuits in my earlier days and had remained up to speed with our new product introductions through my involvement with the Product Management team. However, even with the considerable expertise at our disposal within our specialist team, the sheer volume and scope of questions meant we were at times nearly overwhelmed.
Our saviour was the software tools at our disposal. I was aware and proud of the Festo software tool suite however I don’t use them in my day to day work and I quickly discovered I hadn’t fully appreciated their power. As the pressure came on, I rapidly re-familiarised myself with the software packages and couldn’t have responded to this unprecedented peak of enquiries without them. Our ability to quickly translate, sometimes very vague customer concepts, into fully annotated pneumatic circuit diagrams using the Festo FluidDraw package was essential. These standardised drawings could then be used to engage other specialists, clearly communicating the function of components within the circuit and enabling them to quickly understand the layout required.
The real benefit to the team was the ease of transferring information from one tool to another. Key packages were the already mentioned FluidDraw circuit design software, a free of charge utility tool set called QuickSearch Plus and the Festo Online Shop.
QuickSearch Plus provides a versatile window into the vast structured Festo product database, critical to navigate such a large range. It provides access to masses of technical data, drawings, photos, reliability records, certifications etc. Product specifications and CAD drawings can be quickly compared to find the best part for the job. Product and configuration datasheets are dynamically generated, and their content can be cut down to the requirements of the individual customer and application.
Integrated Festo software suite came to the rescue with easy selection, documentation and ordering
With all of the Ventilator Challenge companies working under crazy time pressure, we were able to deal with hundreds of requests and questions. What are the port sizes? What is the minimum operating pressure? Is it oxygen compatible?
A great feature was the ability to find ‘right first time’ the correct accessories; cables and plugs for solenoid valves, fittings, mountings and connectors for cylinders and valves. Parts lists could be quickly and accurately generated complete with hyperlinks to all the required technical documentation.
This is where the connectivity between the tools came to the fore – a list of components could be used to seamlessly generate all the circuit elements for the circuit design, only requiring the layout to be done – a simple task with the ‘snap to grid’ and ‘snap to port’ functions. Sometimes the customer and application demanded the components were selected first and the circuit followed. Other times the application was circuit led, and the components were then selected to best fulfil the function. Either way, the information could be simply transposed in either direction from QuickSearch Plus to FluidDraw or vice-versa. At any stage the BoM (bill of materials) could be copied into a basket on the Festo Online Shop to immediately check for pricing and delivery information.
Due to the unique nature of the Ventilator Challenge, often more in-depth checks were required with HQ production and logistic teams. They needed to establish the best possible delivery times in a desperate ‘chicken and egg’ – if we were to place an order in the next few days could you make x thousand of these in four weeks? This was an extremely complex task as demand frequently exceeded a year's total usage but was required within just a few days or weeks. What started as a trickle, quickly became a flood of competing enquiries, not just from UK companies but globally, as more governments and international health authorities desperately tried to ramp up ventilator availability.
Thankfully, in the end, most of these emergency ventilators weren’t required. The NHS coped with the peak demand and the massive production ramp up of existing ventilator designs met immediate requirements.
What did I learn?
I was reminded of the power and pleasure of teamwork and impressed by how much more efficient and effective we were able to be by harnessing the benefits of these powerful software tools.
Two examples from the Festo software suite
QuickSearch Plus
A free of charge powerful window into the Festo product range relational database
• Search, sort and filter products
• Import, export (Excel and others), copy and paste
• Product feature/drawing comparison
• Quick links (and copy to Outlook) documentation/technical data
Catalogue pages/data sheets
CAD drawings
Photo / ISO symbol
• QR code generator (standard or configurable products)
• Spare parts – pdf and 3D views
• Engineering tools – selection and configuration
• Parts list handling
• Accessories for selected product and the reverse
• New/Phase-out products (including replacement parts)
• Customisation features
Merge online and offline data
Customer part numbers and descriptions
Customer preferred range
www.festo.com/quicksearch
FluidDraw
A time-saving circuit diagram drawing package – fast and error free. Available on annual license fee.
• Extensive pneumatic and electrical symbol library ISO 1219-1/DIN EN60617
• Works independently or integrates with Festo online catalogue/shop
• Own product databases can be incorporated
• Extensive drawing functions
• Symbol generator aid
• Smart dimensioning
• Table of contents/drawing frame
• Parts list generation (import and export)
• Import complex configurable parts e.g. valve terminals
• Intelligent line routing and alignment aid for symbols
www.festo.com/fluiddraw
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