Automotive company Continental is leveraging precise location data, integrated systems and a digital twin of its plant in Rubi Spain, near Barcelona, with an ultra-wideband (UWB) Internet of Things (IoT) solution provided by Zerintia Technologies. The solution, deployed a year and a half ago, automatically integrates data derived from multiple systems within the plant to detect events in real time, as well as provide instructions to assembly and maintenance personnel and prevent production delays.
The digital twin provides an overview of events and the status of work being carried out throughout the assembly site. The solution collects data from sensors attached to assets and geo-positioning anchors located around the facility, all provided by technology company Sewio. The technology was deployed one year ago, and Continental is now considering expanding the technology’s use to other facilities where, in some cases, piloting is already under way.
Continental, a multinational automotive parts manufacturing company, was founded in Germany as a rubber manufacturer in 1871. These days, it employs more than 245,000 workers throughout 60 countries and markets. While it is best known for its tires, some of Continental’s manufacturing plants produce surface-mount technology, such as car dashboard electronic components. Its 3,200-square-meter (34,400-square-foot) facility in Barcelona is dedicated to producing this dashboard technology. The plant consists of manufacturing lines that are more than 40 meters (131 feet) in length, where employees undertake tasks requiring a supply of raw materials.
Any break in the flow of supplies, as well as any incidents at the assembly line, can lead to a temporary work stoppage, according to Victor Canton, Continental’s project manager for Industry 4.0. “Sometimes,” he explains, “the line stopped and that [led to] a loss of time and efficiency that we wanted to avoid.” To address the problem, Continental sought a technology-based solution that could improve the efficiency of its production and keep stoppages to a minimum. “We were looking for a technological partner to help us develop the best way to increase efficiency. We chose Zerintia because they were able to offer us a [plant-wide] solution over a single technological platform.”
The use of the UWB communication protocol, Canton says, enables the company to “capture highly accurate spatial and directional data.” After determining the challenges at the Barcelona plant, Zerintia provided its 4ACTION solution as an IoT platform that locates individuals and assets inside the plant, in order to trigger events related to their positions. The solution provider, launched in Madrid in 2014, offers IoT solutions across Europe and Latin America for industrial purposes, remote worker safety and elder care. The company began working with Continental approximately three years ago, before deploying the technology last year throughout the entire factory.
To capture data regarding the movements of people and equipment onsite, the firm attached UWB sensors to such assets as automatic guided vehicles (AGVs), and it also built the technology into personnel wristbands so that the system could understand the location and thus the status of those on the plant floor at any given time. “We designed a system with wearable devices so that every employee and every event can be tracked,” says Eva Duran Lopez, Zerintia’s marketing director. Sewio also installed 30 UWB anchors throughout the facility in order to detect the locations of those sensors.
As each employee reports to work, he or she picks up a smartwatch that comes with a built-in Sewio UWB chip and antenna. Upon taking a watch, workers must identify themselves in the 4ACTION system by inputting their identity in a touch screen, thereby linking themselves with that device’s unique ID. The software thus knows not only who is wearing each band, but also the work he or she is authorized and trained to do. As individuals go about their work, the anchors deployed around the facility capture the wristband transmissions and forward that data to the software, which identifies where each employee is located and, therefore, what tasks he or she is undertaking.
Continental’s Victor Canton
In addition, tags are applied to the AGVs that transport raw materials to the storage are and the assembly floor. When raw materials are received for use in the assembly process. the 4ACTION software generates a material order that is then stored in Continental’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This new order triggers a response from logistics operators to prepare an AGV to then deliver goods to the appropriate station along the production line. That AGV’s tag ID is linked to the materials being delivered
When the AGV reaches the point of delivery, the software captures that event and sends a notification to the workers at the appropriate station, to indicate that it has arrived and is ready for unloading. That action is also captured automatically so management can view when supplies were received, delivered to the assembly line, and unloaded by the appropriate worker. The system has enabled employees to respond more quickly to material deliveries by receiving alerts, Canton says, while also reducing the risk of downtime on the production line. The 4ACTION solution’s commissioning at Continental, he reports, has reduced unnecessary waiting times while improving the plant’s overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
Since the solution was taken live, the company has gained a 2 percent OEE reduction, while also bringing down the mean time to repair by 3 percent. What’s more, the software integrates all plant systems into a single platform. The automatic capture and management of data about the entire plant has provided a reduction of costs related to manually monitoring and maintaining production lines, Canton reports, adding that the digital twin allows real-time visualization. In the future, he says, Continental may deploy the technology at further sites around the world. “Some of the projects that we have already rolled out in Rubi are being spread throughout the company,” Canton states.