Digitalization of intralogistics increases efficiency at Reifenwerk Heidenau

Initial situation and goal

In tyre production, different load carriers are used at different production sites within the factory premises. The semi-finished products on the load carriers could previously only be identified via the accompanying documents. Due to the use of production documents, the manual search processes, which were sometimes carried out by employees not involved in logistics, proved to be very time-consuming. The goal of digitising intralogistics was to replace the previously used load carrier papers.

App-controlled documentation of load carriers

During the production process, the goods must be assigned to the load carriers several times. In the processing areas, the material is transferred to new load carriers and the quantities are recorded. At the respective workstations, employees record the half-products. The involvement of the key users in the individualisation of the app creates a high level of acceptance among the workers.

Traceability through RFID gate and mobile app

In order to be able to digitally record the change of location of goods carriers within the factory premises, RFID gates were installed that enable automatic stock transfers. In addition, the workers are able to record and document loading, reloading and unloading processes using handheld scanners. The app on the handheld offers the advantage of being able to identify free storage spaces and to locate and track empty or loaded load carriers and articles ( traceability ).

Production terminal

The terminal application developed and provided by SIGMA Chemnitz is used for production planning and data collection. Employees log on to the terminal via personnel transponders. In this way, person-specific information can be provided and the current planning status can be checked at any time. Authorised persons can enter actual values, view the automatic debiting of quantities and articles from the storage rooms and thus call up planned figures and production statuses in real time.

Conclusion

With the RFID technology used, SIGMA Chemnitz has made the containers used at the Heidenau tyre plant IoT-capable and automatically identifiable in the industrial environment. The digitalisation of intralogistics eliminates the use of production paperwork, which leads to an increase in efficiency in company processes. In addition, the search processes could be significantly reduced.