From Spring 2022 of Connected.
AUTOMATION MANAGER, FS TECH (TÜV RHEINLAND, #324/ 15, MACHINERY)
In this special safety edition of Connected, we talk with Amber Gray, Automation Manager at Kirby Risk, who specializes in machine safety, safety components and sensing solutions.
Q: WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A SAFETY AUTOMATION CONSULTANT?
At Kirby Risk, our Safety Automation Consultants are dedicated to helping our customers keep their workers and industrial environments safe. They are part of a 29-member team comprised of automation consultants located across Illinois, Indiana and Ohio who specialize in Rockwell Automation hardware, software and services as well as vendor partner products. This automation team covers several different technical disciplines including power, mechatronics, software, control systems, networking and safety.
Kirby Risk Safety Automation Consultants focus on educating customers on machine safety standards and requirements as well as tools, resources and services available to assist with each step of the machine safety lifecycle. We review safety applications with our customers and assist with hardware selection. Additionally, our Safety Automation Consultants are TÜV certified.
Q: WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL SAFETY FOR MACHINERY TECHNICIAN CERTIFICATION AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
This certification demonstrates to customers that our safety automation consultants have been trained on global industry standards relating to machine safety. Through training, we have learned how current standards are applied when designing a safety system. We educate our customers on safety assessments, risk reduction, functional safety requirements, safety design and validation. Our team is invested in training to help us find the best safety solutions for our customers.
Q: AS AN AUTOMATION CONSULTANT WITH A FOCUS ON SAFETY, HOW DO YOU HELP CUSTOMERS?
I educate our clients on the machine safety lifecycle, industry standards, safety components and technologies. I help customers by guiding them through Rockwell Automation machine safety tools, resources and services that can assist with safety projects. I assist with hardware selection and safety solutions for consideration when designing a safety system. I can be involved in the design phase of a project or when a customer is updating or troubleshooting an issue with an existing safety system. Often, our customers are not sure where to begin in their machine safety journey. Kirby Risk Safety Automation Consultants are great resources for our customers to assist with machine safety questions.
Q: CAN YOU SHARE A SUCCESS STORY WITH US?
A customer was upgrading the safety circuit on an existing piece of equipment because of downtime related to issues when troubleshooting the existing safety circuit. The customer planned to use multiple single input, dual channel safety monitoring relays to wire each device to its own safety monitoring relay for ease of troubleshooting. I presented Rockwell Automation GuardLink™ Technology as an alternative option that would allow the customer to wire the safety input devices to one dual input, dual-channel GuardLink™ safety monitoring relay and a Guardmaster® EtherNet/IP Interface to communicate diagnostics reducing downtime. The standard M12 quick disconnect cabling reduces wiring faults and installation time. The customer implemented the GuardLink™ system for this application and reported reduced downtime attributed to troubleshooting, as well as reduced installation time of the new system.