CABLE

“Our main objective is consistently to improve of our production planning and control by increasing transparency in the actual situation”, says Stefan Nestler, Commercial Director at Waskönig+Walter Kabel-Werk GmbH und Co. KG, which has its company headquarters in Saterland, Germany. The first sub-goals of this complex project have already been achieved. “We now benefit from ‘inventory at the touch of a button’, which, on the second working day in the month, already provides us with the results of the previous month,” Nestler tells us. “We are thus able to react much more quickly to current developments in the sense of significantly higher overall efficiency in our processes.”

PDC System as the basis for an MES solution (Manufacturing Execution System)

The cooperation with Advaris began in the year 2004 with the pilot project for drawing die management. Divided into various sub-phases, the plan foresaw the introduction of the complete Manufacturing Execution System (MES) at Waskönig+Walter by the middle of the year 2008 for the overall purposes of improvement in efficiency and minimisation of stock. Tai-Won Pak, IT manager at Waskönig + Walter, and responsible for the MES project, explains: “The core element for this is an improved PDC system on the basis of simple time recording that is more specifically adapted to our requirements. We thus have our entire cable plant, including the company’s own compound materials production, depicted in the PDC system.”
With the PDC module from Advaris, which has been in use for just about one year, one of the possibilities is the acquisition of the production orders from the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and the detailed scheduling of the order sequence at the individual machines. “Waskönig+Walter are thus able to guarantee complete traceability of the batches and products during the production process, on the basis of the individual production lengths”, says Dr. Manfred Moser, Managing Director of Advaris. The conditions for achieving this led to considerable organisational changes for the customer. “Today, for example, each individual cable reel in the production process can be traced and no longer merely the overall production order.” Furthermore, records on paper can largely be avoided in the production process, resulting in a very much more transparent depiction of current availabilities of semi-finished products, empty reels and raw materials. The automatic collection of machine performance through a direct connection of the controls with the PDC system means that important key figures from the production process can be made available on-line at any given time. According to Managing Director Jörg Waskönig, the fact that the machine operators could be persuaded that the initial extra effort in terms of data collection would also lead to more convenient and improved work flows, was a critical factor for the success of the project.

Next phase: Detailed planning with materials scheduling

However, the real added value for Waskönig+Walter will, in future, be derived from the module for order planning and materials scheduling that is currently being implemented. “Only if we can further reduce working capital by means of stock minimisation, will we also achieve a long-term competitive advantage,” says Managing Director, Michael Waskönig. “And only with this increase in efficiency we will also be in a position to secure the overriding goals of cost leadership in our company strategy in the long term.”
The principal advantages of this detailed planning, with parallel materials scheduling, lie in the increased adherence to schedules in the production processes, minimised set-up times for machines and the means of visualising available capacities. “In addition, we expect greater flexibility in the event of unexpected faults, new customer orders or alterations to existing orders,” Jörg Waskönig adds. “On balance, we will benefit from having much greater stock precision and the simplification of production planning and control for customised orders.”

Modular solution permits greater flexibility

As a link between the machine level and the commercial functions of an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system such as SAP R/3, the Advaris-MES system takes over the detailed planning, control and feedback of order processing in the production. Besides the optimisation of the use of resources such as materials, machinery, tools and personnel, online data collection and immediate reaction to faults such as machine breakdown are some of the central functions of MES. The high degree of flexibility and the modular solution from Advaris, as opposed to a standard system, enable Waskönig+Walter to implement individual adaptations in the software and thus to depict precisely the requirements of the company.
“The great advantage that can be gained from an IT project of this kind lies in the possibilities for optimisation of our organisation and the transparency that we attain in the work flow processes” is how Managing Director Nestler summarises the benefits. “This applies, above all, to production management and control.” The next step is now to utilise this transparency for more effective production planning.
– Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for cable production-
– PDC (Plant Data Collection) module as the basis of further optimisation measures-
– Inventory at the touch of a button
– Traceability on the basis of individual lengths-
– Automatic machine data collection
– On-line monitoring for production KPIs (Key Perfomance Indicators)
– More transparency for production planning and control-
– Future added value through integrated detailed planning and materials scheduling.
– Sustainable increase in adherence to schedules and stock reduction.
– Flexible modular system permits individual solutions.

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