EMO Orodjarna

 
  • EMO Orodjarna
  • Company Location: Celje, Slovenia
  • Company was founded in 1894
  • Approx. 200 employees
  • Produces transfer tools and progressive tools for transforming sheet metal
  • Main customers are the automotive and aviation industries and their suppliers

The FACTS4WORKERS solution at EMO Orodjarna

 


Context of use

 
Production of tools and maintenance of machines


  • Cast: about 120 workers
  • Manufacturing of components for the tools
  • Assembly of the components into tools
  • Testing of the tools
  • Quality control
  • Maintenance of machines

 


Challenges

 
  • Incidents are reported offline and documented in various formats
  • Production-relevant data mainly available in paper format
  • Missing information at the production workplace
  • Not enough information, error-prone work
  • Poor communication mechanisms between workers and engineers

 


Room for improvement

 
  • Easier and faster access to context-specific information for workers
  • Improvements of maintenance process by providing relevant procedures and guidelines
  • Faster decision making and response times
  • Better individual and collaborative problem solving
  • Increased participation

 


Potential benefits

 
  • Increased worker satisfaction
  • Reduced downtime due to machine errors
  • Increased participation of workers and thus the possibility of contributing to innovation
  • Higher performance

 

The FACTS4WORKERS solution
@ EMO Orodjarna


The Facts4workers solution provides the workers with all relevant information for the manufacturing, the assembly, the quality control and the maintenance processes.


Field of applicaton

Core functionality

Benefit of the FACTS4WORKERS solution - EMO 1

Benefit of the FACTS4WORKERS solution - EMO 2

Impact dimension

top


 

Field of application



  • Manufacturing of components for the tools
  • Assembly of the components into the final products (progressive and transfer tools)
  • Testing of the tools
  • Quality control
  • Maintenance of machines
The company’s main customers are the automotive and aviation industries and their suppliers to which EMO delivers tools for large presses. These tools are produced in many different versions and in small numbers. During the manufacturing, assembly, quality control and maintenance process, the workers need all relevant information, presented in a smart way that does not interfere with their work. They also need the opportunity to communicate and report important incidents.

 

Core functionality


 

Overview about Projects


The database connector provides access to the status of part production and package assembly and also the viewing of corresponding CAD files in an attractive way. The list of parts can be scanned via keyword-based search. On the part details screen you can retrieve information about meta data, history details as well as doing the quality control check.


 

Documentation


Within the system failures can be reported by making photos and textual descriptions. The history view of the parts provides an effective documentation of the production process so the worker is able to keep track of which failure has to be solved or rather which parts have to be reworked. In order to make the manufacturing process more efficient, the worker is able to start a workflow for submitting ideas for improvement.


 

Knowledge sharing


The chat and video chat functionality supports the worker in his daily tasks. Getting in contact with experts the worker receives appropriate remote supported in any situation.


 

Education / qualification


Several learning material and step-by-step guidelines can be consulted by the worker in different stages of education (classroom situation, in-situ learning at the machine with a mentor, gain long-term experience). There is the possibility both to record as well as playback video footage to perform and improve his actions on a daily basis.

 
 

 
Benefit of the Facts4Workers solution

EMO 1 – Mutual awareness

Before

Before


When Ivan comes to work and wants to start the assembly, he first checks that all the parts he needs to complete the task are available. Some (but not all) of parts are stacked beneath the machined cast iron frame, waiting to be assembled. He walks around the shop to find the rest of the parts he needs, but some of them cannot be found. Where are they? Who knows something about them? On his way across the shop floor, Ivan collects the relevant information from various sources and talks to his colleagues who are busy assembling other tools and to the machinists that ma-chine the parts. One of the parts he needs seems to be lost. No one knows anything about it, and he has to bring in others, including Andrej, the project manager, if necessary. Ivan is now prevented from working on his tools and moves on to another tool in production.

With the new tool, this information gathering task starts all over again! With the help of other co-workers, he has to quickly obtain an overview of the current status of the tool and its related parts that have to be assembled. Everyone involved has a bad feeling about the situation, and Ivan inevitably takes over responsibility for other employees’ work. If mistakes are made during the assembly process, it is difficult to identify whose fault it was afterwards, as the information about who has assembled which parts is only in the assembly workers’ heads.

After

After


When Ivan arrives at the shop, everything looks the same as before: The tools and parts are waiting to be assembled, and some of the parts are already stacked beside the machined cast iron frame. Ivan powers up his tablet and logs in. The first thing he does is to check the status of the build process, especially which parts are still waiting to be assembled. He uses the tool to find the parts grouped into logical compartments according to the sequence in which they can be assembled. At a glance, Ivan sees the packages that are ready to be assembled and those that are still waiting for parts. Now Ivan can start to assemble the listed parts. When Ivan has finished, he documents his progress in the system. He cannot work on the tool any longer, as the next important part is still in production. The system tells him who is working on the part and when to expect the completion of the machining processes. As it takes too long to wait for the arrival of the parts, Ivan decides to switch to another tool. Ivan uses his tablet to inform the group leader about the problem and of the need to switch to another tool. This takes only a matter of minutes, even though Ivan does not know where his group leader is.

Arriving at the other tool, Ivan uses his tablet again and retrieves information on the other project. He uses the same functionality to find out the current status of assembly, the parts he could work on and who worked on the tool before, if he notices any problems.

 

EMO 1 – Quality control

Before

Before


Ivan is in the middle of a crucial assembly step as he realises that the part he wants to mount does not have the correct geometry. Only through experience was he able to notice the mistake that would have created greater damage if the tool had been tested for the first time. Using his callipers, he proves a deviation from the part’s drawing that he cannot fix by himself. Whenever this happens, he wonders why there is no strict quality control process in place. By chance, Ivan knows that Anton has produced this part; otherwise, he would have needed to identify the person who could help him with that. He takes the faulty part to Anton. In a face-to-face conversation, he explains the problem to Anton and asks him whether he could rework the part immediately. Luckily Anton has a bit of time in his otherwise tight schedule and places the part right into the three-axis CNC milling machine. After the part’s surface has reached its final dimension, Ivan takes the part back to his tool and assembles it.

After

After


Ivan is in the middle of a crucial assembly step and is preparing to mount the next part. As this part’s dimensional properties are critical to the machine operation, Ivan uses his touch screen monitor to check whether a full quality check has been performed. On the part’s details view, he can clearly see that no quality check has been performed on that part. Hence he opens the CAD file and compares the measurements of the particular part with the rough indication by using his callipers; Ivan performs the check by himself. As it turns out, the parts geometry is not correct, but Ivan cannot rework the part by himself. He looks up the responsible person on his tablet. This is an easy task, as the machine operators working on that part are listed on the part’s details screen. Ivan sees that he has to speak to Anton. Instead of walking across the entire shop floor, Ivan uses the “report failure” and chat function to document the error and to get in contact with Anton. Anton says it is no problem to rework the part within the next hour. When the part returns from Anton, Ivan quickly assembles it. Now it fits perfectly, and thus Ivan ticks off the “quality controlled” flag as well as the assembled flag in the software.

 

EMO 2 – Preventive maintenance

Before

Before


It is 9 o’clock in the morning, and Marko is in the middle of an unexpected problem that requires a maintenance procedure on the laser cutter. A parabolic mirror has become dirty and must be cleaned. The machine has triggered a corresponding warning. This requires that Marko partially disassemble the laser head. The laser cutter is an important machine, and the shop only has one machine of its kind. In-coming orders to the machine are piling up.
While he is busy with this machine, Anton passes by, as his CNC machine has also just broken down. His remote controller has stopped working. This is very annoying for Anton, as he now has to work only with the main control panel, which is fixed in place. Marko feels stressed, because he has a precise idea of the problem, and he knows that Anton could easily fix it by himself if he only knew how to do it. Putting the laser head back together, Marko notices another part being damaged that also needs to be replaced immediately. He looks up the part number in the corporate procurement system. There is no replacement part on site, but Marko knows a dis-tributor 100 km away, where he can obtain the part directly. He phones up the dis-tributor, gets into a car and drives to the distributor. Back at the shop three hours later, he installs the part, and the laser cutter goes back into normal operation. But he has certainly not forgotten Anton nor his broken controller.

Marko visits his workplace. A quick look confirms his thoughts on the problem: It is just a loose elec-trical connection in the remote control terminal. He switches off the machine and tightens all the screw terminals to ensure a decent electrical connection. After switching the machine back on again, they try out the basic functionality of the re-mote controller to verify the success of the repair. Marko immediately notices that the illumination of the working area is very dim: The light bulb has burnt out. This is easy to fix. He just has to remove the protective glass and replace the bulb. It is a standard bulb, and they have plenty in stock. After a busy day, Marko is looking for-ward to a relaxing evening with his family.

After

After


It is 9 o’clock in the morning when the laser cutter issues a warning that the parabolic mirror has to be cleaned. Franc, who is operating the laser, notices this warning, takes out the Facts4Workers smart glasses and looks up the error in the database by scanning the QR-code which is attached at the machine. This preventive maintenance procedure is demonstrated by a training video that he has to select. He quickly retrieves the necessary procedure from a repository system. A detailed step-by-step guide, which Marko prepared as part of the preventive maintenance routines the last time this error was triggered, gives him confidence that he can manage the repair on his own.

During the mirror cleaning operation and the reassembly of the laser head, Franc notices that another part appears to be damaged as well. By looking up for a problem solution on the tablet it turns out that it does not contain any information about this issue yet, as this is the first time the fault has ever occurred. He calls in Marko by pressing the “request maintenance staff” button on his tablet. Marko promptly joins him and confirms the suspicion that the part has to be replaced immediately. Marko takes the car to buy the missing part at a local distributor 100 km away. Upon his return to the shop, he installs the component, and the laser goes back into normal operation. Marko thinks it would be worthwhile to check the part more often in the future, so he adds it to the list of periodic maintenance checks that the machine operator would do on a three-monthly basis from now on. At the end of each shift, Franc (as well as the other machine operators) uses the tablet and work from the list of suggested maintenance tasks to avoid unexpected interruptions like this one.

Anton is producing parts as usual, because his machine did not break down. Everything is working smoothly. His remote controller is also in perfect condition, as he has recently tightened all the electrical connections, as the tablet system suggested. The light bulb burnt out a week ago. Anton realised it immediately, and there was no need to call in Marko, because he could follow the simple procedure that the tablet system provided. At the end of today’s shift, the system requests the cleaning of some fluid filters. Anton follows the steps and cleans and reinstalls the filter. When he has completed the task, he ticks off the procedure to mark it in the system as done.

Marko is now much more relieved than during the unexpected workloads, and he can focus on other work. There is also a benefit to the production, as the machines fail less often. He leaves the building in the evening, confident that everything is in good condition and that he will not get called up at home to assist with an emergency repair.

 

 

Impact dimension


Improvement with regard to influencing factors.

EMO 1

 
 

EMO 2