Longer machine running times thanks to unmanned production

Published on: July 14, 2014 / Updated on: April 24, 2021 – Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

[In collaboration with Kardex Remstar – ADVERTISEMENT]

Or: How a company prepares itself for the future by upgrading to a state-of-the-art production and storage system

Meienberg Feinmechanik AG , a Swiss manufacturer of mechanical components, used the upcoming modernization of its production facilities as an opportunity to completely realign its production processes. In addition to extensive automation of the processes, this made it possible not only to significantly reduce labor-intensive setup times, but also to extend machine operating time into the night hours.

The work was carried out in collaboration with Goodj , a manufacturer of automated production systems, and Chiron , the company that developed the new machining center for the production facility. The precisely tailored rack storage systems were supplied by the intralogistics provider Kardex Remstar .

The goal was to increase revenue and flexibility with the same or even fewer employees, while simultaneously simplifying production processes. Where previously adjustments to the production line were always made manually and the machines had to be laboriously recalibrated for each additional customer order, this is now done in a fully automated process. Further time savings were achieved with the implementation of a modern high-bay warehouse and a fully automated shuttle system from Kardex Remstar, in which the necessary parts and tools are stored.

Furthermore, the fact that production no longer stops at night has a significant impact on efficiency. It has now been optimized so that labor-intensive production runs are carried out during the day, while additional orders can be manufactured fully automatically at night. This was only made possible by reducing setup times. These changes can now be completed with just a few clicks – a huge improvement over the old system, where adjustments had to be made manually over several hours. And should a technical problem actually occur at night, the responsible employees are notified by SMS or email.

 

You can learn more about the project in the explanatory video and in the PDF below:

[fvplayer src=”https://vimeo.com/83972323″ splash=”https://xpert.digital/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Längere-Maschinenlaufzeiten-durch-mannlose-Fertigung.png?r=pad” caption=”Longer machine runtimes through unmanned manufacturing”] [slideshare id=37083770&doc=produktionslogistik-meienberg-140717062932-phpapp01&type=d]