When it comes to digital transformation, the overview of the many possibilities of approaches and technologies is almost lost in the thicket. The challenge here? To think big and complex, to examine and question the immense spectrum of digital technologies, and then to prioritize their introduction. In other words, finding the balance between diversity, complexity and focus. Agathon has managed to do this so far in its "Manufacturing 2025" project. Also thanks to Bruno Rambaldi, external consultant and sub-project manager of digital manufacturing.

The idea of "Manufacturing 2025": Agathon is converting its current classic workshop production, in which the systems are grouped by technology, to island production. Here, the focus is on a fast throughput time and the grouping of equipment in order to be able to manufacture a product group completely. This new, purpose-built arrangement of machines results in more effective use of production space and higher personnel availability.

"The Agathon project team called me in when a milestone had already been reached: the introduction of island production in the standard parts area," recalls Bruno Rambaldi. "What was still missing now was an IT solution that was suitable for digital working in production."

The survey

While taking stock of the current state, the project team went on a journey of discovery through production. "Where everywhere are there points of contact between IT and production? We undertook a comprehensive look, even down to the feeding slip next to the machine, and showed the as-is process in terms of data flow," says Rambaldi, describing the approach. It was quickly agreed that the first step toward the Smart Factory should be paperless and the ideal state of paperless production was depicted in a visiogram.
 

Working digitally in production

"What I like best is that we now all work with laptops and tablets in production as well. Nothing gets lost anymore and we can quickly see in the team what the work statuses look like in real time," says a production employee after the introduction of paperless production. And it has many advantages. Among other things, the acceleration of the process and the intuitive operation, as known from the smartphone. Information is thus in the right place at the right time and cannot get lost. An important component is also the assurance and for the provision of know-how. "At Agathon, we develop in an agile manner, which is why we only considered a software solution that was compatible with our approach," explains Michel Tan, IT manager at Agathon. The industrial software solution Tulip, which the company DMG MORI exclusively distributes, came into play. The promise: A pragmatic solution that can be integrated quickly and operated without much user knowledge. "We introduced the system in May after just three months of development, and it has been running trouble-free ever since. Not only that, the employees were fit and motivated for the applications after a short training session," enthuses Bruno Rambaldi.

Picking up employees

For such a complex project to be implemented in such a short time, it needs one thing above all: a motivated and committed team. "Agathon is acting in a very exemplary manner here in that the management and executives are strongly supporting digitization and taking the employees with them on the journey." So what can Tulip do in concrete terms? The production orders on paper have been replaced. The system also contains drawings and setup documentation, tool settings and soon also maintenance documentation. This makes the work of production employees immensely easier and takes them into the digital age.

Source | Agathon