Automated Shop Floor Management at Hills Industries using RFgen

Automated Shop Floor Management using RFgen

Darren Swindells & Craig WestcottHills Industries & Fusion5

Monday 16th August 2010

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Agenda• Background• Business Problem• Solution Criteria & Alternatives• Solution Overview• Project Outline• Business Benefits• Questions

Background• Orrcon Steel (part of Hills Industries) is an Australian

manufacturer and distributor of Steel, Tube and Pipe• Specialises in the manufacture of precision tube,

structural pipe, water pipe, and oil gas pipeline– Used in large construction projects

• One of the leading players in the Australian market, with a strong local distribution network

• Core to the business is the steel slitting & rolling mills, based in Queensland


Business Problem• Automated scanning solution required for Orrcon’s coil slitting lines• Multiple work order completions & issues in a single operation

Two coil slitting lineso One galvanised in-line slitter & one hot-roll slitting line

Slitting machines running on each line Input coils fed into process, in batches Slitters generate multiple output coils/WO’s Which are rolled and packed for storage/use Used in manufacture of steel tubing, etc

Business Problem• Orrcon expanded to take over 3rd party slitting operation• Need to provide this capability - system cut-over to JDE E8.10

Requirements To perform the manufacturing operation in JDE Multiple output coil/WO completions In a single operation for the full batch Real-time, with reference & lot # validations Handling tolerances, scrap & other calculations And automated label print following operation


Solution CriteriaAfter user has mounted cutting knives on slitter:

User sets up slitter coil pattern Scans reference & lot #’s (coil) Enters various input parameters Performs completions/issues

o Consumed in Weight or Metreso Completed in Metres

Fully consumes master coil across pattern

• Superbackflush WO completions for all output coils in the batch, and• Validations, calculations & WO issues to take place in JDE, in real-time

Solution AlternativesCustomise JD Edwards Data Capture Solution for JDE

• Efficiency concerns− Need to automate & simplify process

• Scanning required for accuracy • Possible bottlenecks – manual steps• Delayed ERP steps – affects visibility• Performance & practicality concerns

- Running ERP session on production line- Screen format, button size, etc issues

• Risk of high admin costs• Against Hills’ SOA standardisation

- Keep ERP vanilla - decoupling

• Highly efficient− Data captured automatically− ERP updated in real time

• Scanning built in – accurate validation• All in 1 process – no manual ERP steps• ADC software designed for terminals

- Terminals/devices run software natively- Easy touch screen usability, RF guns, etc

• No admin overhead – real time in ERP• Aligned with Hill’s SOA standardisation

- ERP vanilla- custom code external


Solution Overview• RFgen (www.rfgen.com) Automated Data Capture solution was chosen• Provided by Fusion5’s Supply Chain division (www.fusion5.com.au) • Fully integrated with JD Edwards – real-time ERP updates• Software runs on terminals at the end of each line• Users transact through simple touch screen forms• Barcode scanning built in for real-time batch & lot # validations• Additional custom logic & validations built into transactions• Automatically prints barcode labels off after transacting (re-print too)• Handles multiple ERP WO completions & issues for batch in a single step

from the transaction (simplification)

http://www.rfgen.com/

http://www.fusion5.com.au/

Solution Overview

Production Data

Direct Data Validation

Transaction Flow


Project OutlineOrrcon RFgen Project - Fusion5MOBILISE

Kick-Off Meeting \ WorkshopDEFINE

Business RequirementsDefine Test Scripts & PlanDefine Training Requirements & PlanTechnical

PROTOTYPEBuildGap Analysis - technical analysisDevelopment

Produce Tech SpecificationsSignoff Tech SpecificationsDevelopment activities

VALIDATEPreparationValidation

DELIVERPreparationBuild - config production machineTransitionTrainingGo-Live

SUPPORT

October November December January February


Business Benefits

Real-time visibilityImprove accuracy

Remove process bottlenecksImprove efficiencies

Reduce administration costs

SOA standardisation – de-coupling

Improve customer service

Automation - consolidation & simplification

Sample Benefits• Usability

– Significant usability benefits: error reduction & simplicity in usage

• User training– Training time reduced six-fold – now takes only 15% of the time

• Removing ERP customisation– Custom business logic removed from ERP– Eg Warnings if only 90% of the coil is issued– Applies automated rules that are derived outside of std JDE business functions

• JDE upgrade benefits– Removal of customisations speeds up JDE upgrade process significantly


Questions?

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Technology

Automated Shop Floor Management at Hills Industries using RFgen