Lean and intelligent process optimisation systems make I4.0 solutions affordable
06 June 2018
Think of Werma and you will probably imagine images of flashing lights, beacons and sirens found in so many diverse applications in industry. Always a technology leader in the development of more sophisticated signal lights, Werma has most recently been developing innovative smart systems for process control and warning systems on the factory shop-floor.
Indeed, many of the new product development work being carried out at the company has its roots in the trend which began in Germany of developing new systems to meet the challenges of Industry 4.0 compliance.
Industry 4.0 is a concept formulated by the German industrial community to encourage work towards developing ever more sophisticated technologies to automate and computerise the running of factories. This trend is also captured by the phrase “4th Industrial Revolution”. It captures the desire to work at removing “human machine interfaces” seen by their very nature as being a potentially vulnerable area simply due to the sometimes unpredictable nature of human behaviour and replace them with more automated computer driven systems. Here in the UK Industry 4.0 is still a really new concept but already another tag is being widely used to coin the concept more clearly – Smart Factory.
Three “smart factory” solutions from Werma are designed to improve transparency of operation, identify bottlenecks and disruptions to the production flow and lead to improvements in service and efficiency by taking cost and wastage out of the operation.
Two solutions are based on andon lights incorporating intelligent systems which are used to monitor operations in manufacturing and logistics. The systems embrace the principals of andon lights being deployed to signal the safe operation of equipment or a hazardous condition and at the same time make a significant contribution towards eliminating costly and often inaccurate data collection and process warning, hitherto very much a task undertaken by men with clipboards and manual task sheets to be completed.
Andonspeed – speed up your logistics operation and reduce costs and delays
How does Andonspeed work?
A signal tower is manually activated by a member of staff on the shop floor to call for help from the appropriate service. By just pressing a button a signal light is illuminated on the workstation, clearly indicating the call for action required. The call for action can also be sent automatically by email to the service concerned and response times can be monitored.
Intuitive and easy to use – Andonspeed is quick to install, the simple activation of traditional traffic light colours green, red and amber make it suitable even for unskilled or seasonal staff.
WIN – innovative andon light based machine monitoring system
The system uses conventional andon lights to indicate changes in status of the machine as it moves, for example from a productive state indicated by the green light to a non-productive state amber/red. This status change is transmitted wirelessly to WIN software which presents clients with real time views of the operating conditions of the machines. Information is stored on a database which enable the client to produce with a couple of mouse clicks reports detailing the uptime/downtime detail of the machines and other information such as quantities produced and fault codes generated.
The system will automatically send e-mails to those people responsible for intervening and getting the machines up and running again.
Improved process and safety control need not always have to been hugely expensive and totally new solutions being developed – often, as has been illustrated here, real progress can be made through the development of basic systems to meet new challenges.
StockSAVER
New intelligent wireless KanBan replenishment system
Few Kanban systems are completely free from errors and weak spots: the processing of Kanban cards can be delayed; cards can sometimes be mislaid leading to very little transparency in the operation. The introduction of scanners provides only partial relief to some of these issues, not least of all because often staff will “forget” to scan leading to incorrect bookings being made and shelves being incorrectly replenished.
The solution: A new intelligent KanBan replenishment system
Werma’s StockSAVER resolves many of the traditional Kanban issues: stock withdrawals no longer have to be scanned and arithmetically calculated stock level errors are removed.
Sensors on the FIFO racking give total transparency of stock levels and, thanks to the automatic call for replenishment, stock-outs and incorrect stock replenishment is excluded. The objective of the system is to halve the level of stock held line-side by reducing the traditional amount of safety stock being held there. Human errors in calling up for new material or the incorrect filling of shelves is eliminated.
With a smaller amount of stock held line-side the number of FIFO racks and space required on the shop-floor can also be reduced. This can free up valuable floor space for other value adding activities and of course cash flow will be improved through reduced stock.
Case study – writing implement manufacturer Schmidt Technology
Schmidt Technology is a family owned business based in the south of Germany and is a technology leader in the fields of writing instrument technology, presses for forming and joining and advanced sensor technology.
In order to provide manufacturing with exactly the right amount of material SCHMIDT Technology must have complete transparency of the amount of material held at any time in the FIFO racks. StockSAVER makes sure that FIFO shelves never run dry, solves all of the traditional Kanban problems and renders previously required safety stocks unnecessary.
Bins in the FIFO flow racks contain the refills which are awaiting the barrels coming in from the mould shop before being worked on further. Because there is no additional WIP stock it is important to have excellent transparency of the actual content of the FIFO flow racks to prevent too much or too little stock being held there and to allow the flow of production to run smoothly.
With the Werma system, sensors fitted to the flow rack rails monitor the number of bins on the FIFO flow racks and the movement in and out and transfer this data wirelessly to the StockSAVER software. Here pre-set minimum and emergency stock levels for each component and stock location will be cross checked against the incoming movement data and automatically replenishment orders will be triggered once the emergency stock level has been reached.
The system offers a robust error-free system as it is no longer necessary to scan withdrawals of stock neither is there a danger of duplicate bookings being made nor are arithmetically calculated stock level errors possible.
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