Fast-tracking part picking

The device connects via satellite to the shop’s ERP system and shows people on the shop floor precisely where a part is.

The goal of the industrial internet of things, or Industry 4.0, is to achieve complete transparency in the work flow on the shop floor, creating efficiencies through automation and part flow optimization throughout a production line.

This is easier to achieve in an automated setup where sheet metal goes in and a formed part comes out the other end – a luxury most job shops can’t hope to dream of. Still, with offline programming for nesting and bending, and the ability to scan parts using bar coding or similar processes, a lot of the grunt work behind the scenes can be handled in “masked time”; that is, processes don’t create bottlenecks in production because they are completed outside the direct production flow.

For some shops, however, physically locating products for part picking and tracking has remained an unaddressed challenge in product flow. With multiple assemblies on a job shop floor, it can be difficult ensuring that all the disparate pieces of the puzzle meet at the right place and time to make production as efficient as possible.

Following Part Movement

This makes TRUMPF’s newly introduced Track & Trace indoor positioning system an interesting proposition for shops looking to track part movement better. This system makes it possible to pinpoint where parts are on a shop floor in real time.

The system is an outgrowth of TRUMPF’s efforts to organize parts better on its own production floor in Farmington, Conn. Like many shops, the company’s laser manufacturing operations required that a purchase order be attached to every part in the factory. But finding parts could be a time-consuming process, so the team determined that it would be more effective if there were an easily identifiable visual cue for each part.

“About five years ago we created flags with numbers on them,” said Matthieu Prou, manager of sheet metal fabrication, internal logistics and large part machining. “These flags had magnetic bottoms that could attach to any part or cart. Each part was assigned a number so it was easier to find each just by looking for the number on its flag. Our ERP system had each number attached to a particular order. The point was, you didn’t have to read through the paperwork to ensure it was the correct part.”

This made part picking more efficient, but it still required a search process, albeit a shorter one than previously.

The next step was creating a device to tag the parts – essentially a flat disc that is electronically tagged to a part and magnetically attaches to stacked parts or carts. The tag connects via satellite to the shop’s ERP system and shows people on the shop floor precisely where the part is.

“When we first introduced this system two years ago, staff accessed the part map on a PC monitor,” said Prou. “The problem with that was, when they walked through the shop, they could forget precisely where the part was, or it might be moved between the time they left their monitor and when they arrived to pick the part.”

There are any number of other functions that might be built into such a tool in the future such as creating specific rules within the system based on where the part is located or what process comes next in production.

In answer to this challenge, the system was adapted to function with tablets.

“It simplifies searches tremendously,” said Prou. “Sometimes someone in the welding department might forget to move parts to the grinding department or some other area of the shop. There is less frustration if the next person required to work on that part can find where it is located just by checking a tablet screen.”

Being centrally connected to the company’s ERP system, the tablets hold all other important information for the person in charge of the next process that part has to go through. For instance, 3D models of the part can be pulled up or details regarding the correct bend sequence for the piece. It can also indicate when an express order has been introduced into the work flow and prioritize part flow.

Data-rich Decisions

The reduction in time spent searching for parts and the concomitant information-rich platform has allowed Prou to substantially exceed productivity improvement goals in the past year.

“Every year we have a goal of improving productivity by 6 per cent,” he said. “Last year we improved it by more than 20 per cent. Our team is able to do more every day with less unnecessary movement through the shop floor.”

Prou had planned to hire eight new operators to meet production expectations, but the streamlining created by this new tool meant he had to bring in only two new people. Substantial office time alone is saved by not printing work orders for the shop floor.

Data-rich processes always include a “but wait, there’s more!” aspect to them, and this tool is no different. Consider that all of that part movement throughout the day has been tracked, traced, and stored. It then becomes possible to review how everything moves through your shop, changing the way you might approach time and motion studies in the future.

Prou has yet to fully explore this, but it’s in his plans for this year. “We want to make sure parts are following the best flow that they need to,” he said.

The challenge with any data-rich process is what you want it to do. Ask any IT guy what you want and he’ll say it’s possible, it’s a matter of choosing what information is most important to you. For instance, Prou said that this tool can be set to create an alarm if a part misses any process step on the shop floor.

But there are any number of other functions that might be built into such a tool in the future such as creating specific rules within the system based on where the part is located or what process comes next in production.

Like so many IIoT tools, it will really be up to the end user to determine how this can best meet its needs. But this type of technology adds another layer of visibility to a shop’s operations in the front office.

Editor Robert Colman can be reached at rcolman@canadianfabweld.com.

TRUMPF Inc., www.trumpf.com