Blumberg based TRW Automotive GmbH is a subsidiary of the Livonia, Michigan, based automotive giant, TRW Automotive – a company with more than 65,000 employees worldwide, 186 subsidiaries in 26 counties, including 13 test tracks and 22 technology centres. The site in Blumberg was commissioned in 1945 and today manufactures valves of all shapes and sizes, employing around 858 employees.
In order to reduce incidences of unscheduled downtime and to detect latent available capacity at the Blumberg plant, the German subsidiary implemented a simple but effective machine data collection system from WERMA just a few years ago. The system - WIN (Wireless Information Network) - has proved particularly successful and is now being rolled out rapidly across the entire plant.
TRW manufacturing development engineer Bernd Müller says that when he began working at Blumberg there was a lack of production transparency, and this continued to be a problem as the site was expanded. Over the years, the number of machine shops increased and it became increasingly difficult to maintain an overview of machine status, a situation made worse by the diversity of machine control protocols employed around the plant.
Müller was aware of the many costly and complex monitoring systems at his disposal that might help him to address this problem, but his main worry was the cost and inconvenience of having to lay cables, conduits and associated trunking throughout the extensive elderly building infrastructure. However, early in 2010, Müller discovered WERMA's WIN wireless based machine data collection system, thought it had potential for the site and decided to run a trial installation.
He began by monitoring ten critical machines with ten transmitters monitoring machine status. The plug-and-play wireless system was quick and easy to install and was up and running with minimal effort. Indeed, the WIN system was able to provide a precise overview of the status of these ten machines in what Müller describes as ‘a matter of minutes’.
WIN met all of TRW’s expectations in terms of flexibility, standardisation and ease of expansion of the system. Data relating to the machines’ signal tower status are transmitted wirelessly to a central master PC running the WIN software; no complex interfaces are required with the individual machines.
Elmar Giner, a database expert working in TRW’s IT department, was particularly impressed with the WIN software, which builds up the wireless monitoring network in easy steps. A simple root-and-branch network structure, shown in the control station view, provides both the signal strength and the wireless network routing between individual machines. This view also indicates any potential weak spots in the network that may have to be reinforced in order to ensure effective wireless monitoring.
All machines equipped with WIN modules can be monitored from a single master PC running the WIN software, which offers a clear, concise and intuitive user menu. It is a simple matter to identify errors, locate machines whose operations have been interrupted and even carry out production analyses in order to improve efficiency and reduce waste.
At present, TRW has 80 WIN slave/transmitter units and the company plans to increase this number over time. The wireless system ensures that this expansion is easily implemented, with additional WIN units able to be added to the network without the cost and disruption associated with the laying of additional cabling runs.
The company has taken advantage of WIN’s machine utilisation analysis capabilities by installing five large plasma screens to show the productivity of the various machine shops at Blumberg. With these, service personnel, production line staff, and maintenance departments can see the current machine status in real time and deal with any issues arising in a timely manner. Moreover, using the email notification function in the software allows faults/error messages to be sent directly to those responsible via local PCs or smart phones, ensuring quick intervention and reduced downtime.
TRW operates a lean production environment at Blumberg, which has helped the company achieve greater competitiveness in its market. And WIN has helped Bernd Müller to make those necessary steps in achieving this objective. Improved production transparency has given him greater insights into the operations at Blumberg, including costly processes and hidden capacities, which he is now more easily able to address.
The WIN system provides Müller with a variety of statistics such as quantity of parts produced, scrap, or a detailed breakdown of downtime. This allows him to investigate the reasons for, and the frequency of, downtime events, and to develop countermeasures to improve productivity.
A mutually beneficial partnership
Without TRW’s practical experience with the WIN system, WERMA says that many of its functions might not have been developed. For example, it was the input from the Blumberg site that led to the development of a piece part counting function, which can be monitored by a signal tower fitted with the WIN slave performance unit. With this unit, up to six conditions can be monitored and a piece part count delivered. These data are transmitted to a PC equipped with a receiver and stored on a database.
Alongside WIN, TRW uses a range of andon light products from WERMA, which provide a clear, visual indication of machine status, warning operators and production line management that a problem has arisen which needs their attention. This is now being rolled out across the site using WERMA signal towers to warn of other machine related issues such as line side materials shortages or events that may affect product quality.
The machine operator initiating these signals, for whatever production-related reason, stays with his or her machine while those charged with monitoring the light tower signals attend to the operator’s specific needs. The machine operator stays on-station, rather than having to wander off to seek assistance, so their time is not wasted and production is not lost.