Recent headlines have focused on the UK’s low productivity levels and the fact that the country lags behind major trading partners such as Germany, France and the US. At OnePLM, we believe that the answer lies in digitalizing data and creating the smart factory.
It has long been recognized that UK manufacturers could improve the way in which product data is passed to the shop floor and managed there. Now there is an easy-to-implement solution that is suitable for any size of company.
OnePLM has partnered with A+B Solutions of Germany to become the UK supplier of Shop Floor Connect for Teamcenter. This integrates machines, robots, coordinate measuring machines and users in all areas of the production environment into the Teamcenter PLM system. It does so by managing workflows and the release of manufacturing and assembly information such as NC programmes, shop docs, tooling sheets, drawings, 3D models and work instructions.
With in-built security levels, authorized users can view all relevant documents via a simple browser-based user interface. This means that operators on the shop floor can focus solely on the information that is relevant to them. In addition, they only see the latest, most accurate information. With no requirement to check that data is correct, much less scope for error and no wasted machine time, overall throughput rates rise and associated costs go down.
For over a decade A+B Solutions in Germany has been working successfully with Siemens PLM Software on a manufacturing solution to be integrated within Teamcenter. Managing Partner of A+B Solutions, Ralf Stetter says: “We have over 100 worldwide customers who have implemented this solution and streamlined production processes. They report improvements in quality, efficiency and flexibility and that means they can respond to customer requests and market demands much more quickly.”
In particular, existing customers have extended concurrent engineering by eliminating time-consuming linear workflows. With Shop Floor Connect for Teamcenter, there is no need for a separate shop floor database and companies can begin manufacturing tasks even when a design has not been finalized. The solution is compatible with any machine and controller type.
A+B Solutions will be working with OnePLM and its experienced manufacturing specialists to provide Shop Floor Connect for Teamcenter across the UK. If you would like to move your business towards Industry 4.0 please get in touch.