Industry 4.0: lean manufacturing management
The Internet of Things (IoT) solutions create digital plant model and support humans by doing tasks that need analysis. One of them is automatic, multi-stage production planning and real-time adjustment of the production plan.
The customer
Small and medium manufacturing companies, especially companies that undertake the multi-stage serial production of steels, papers, textiles, plastics, gums, etc.
The problem
Creating production plans is a challenge for Industry 4.0. Every client wants delivery as soon as possible and therefore chooses a manufacturer not only on the basis of price but also by the delivery date. Modern clients will pay more for faster delivery. The question is how can we achieve this? Production plans can be affected by many factors, e.g. new orders, downtime, or a slower than planned linear production rate.
The solution
It’s time for the “smart factory” – factories that create virtual copies of physical objects to connect machines with humans. We created a web-based lean manufacturing management solution with an intuitive, responsive user interface. The three main parts of the solution support manufacturers in production, shipping, inventory management, purchasing and order management:
- a fast & scalable event-driven web application powered by a modern JavaScript front-end (technology stack: Scala, AngularJS) with full two-way sync with accounting integration based on SOAP WS communication,
- dedicated devices that allow monitoring of machines’ parameters and collect data in a central database based on an Arduino platform,
- B2B portal that allows cooperation between manufacturers and clients that also support the EDI standard (Electronic data interchange).
The solution meets the requirements of industry 4.0 thanks to improved supply chain visibility, reduced manufacturing cycle time, reduced order lead time and shop-floor scheduling.
Results
The solution is a key VirtusLab product. The software supports manufacturers in automatic, multi-stage production planning and real-time adjustment of production plans. Dedicated devices help with real-time production monitoring by acquiring machines’ parameters. A B2B portal allows cooperation between manufacturers and clients.