White Goods Pilot - Assembly Process Support and Exception Handling Support

Sense&React platform has been installed in Porcia Plant, one of the biggest European factories as for washing machines production belonging to the Electrolux Italia S.p.A. (former Zanussi Industries). Sense&React platform supports the assembly process and handling an emergency situation that has occurred in the WST (malfunctions, bottlenecks, lack of material). The operators at the WST have been assigned to the WG assembly task based on the daily production schedule. A specific case during “normal” production activities is the preparation of a batch change in the line. Currently, the WST operators are supported by some basic information, paper-based, for helping them in performing the correct tasks. In terms of work contents, each WST is provided with a panel, illustrating the most critical assembling tasks, the security rules and the materials’ codes variant on the products. In terms of batches sequence, at the beginning of the shift, each operator receives a list of numbers and codes, indicating the daily production schedule, and the codes of materials they will handle. The WST operators are provided with extra support. Team leaders are assigned for the management of specific line segments and the assurance of their correct functionalities as well as the achievement of production targets. They are in fact both in charge of workforce organizational aspects (adjustments on operators’ deployment in workstation accordingly to presence and to the capacity to fulfill workstation assembly tasks, batch sequence paper documents preparation) and, mostly, of the operators’ assistance in case of emergency; they have to immediately understand the type of problem and find the best solution (e.g. contact the maintenance department) to the problem. Benefits Increased communication speed between operators and the Team Leader in case of a problematic situation, i.e. components are not sufficient or are missing, equipment breakdown. Sub-line bottlenecks elimination by 30% 20% reduction in communication times between WST operators and Team Leader. 10% improvement of Delivery Schedule Achievement KPI can be achieved. Assembly errors reduction by 30% in the workstation and by 10% in the entire sub-line; improvement of finished products quality, due to the provision of operators with enhanced information related the work steps, materials, and tool setup that must be used for a specific batch.  Improvement of Team Leader’s overall efficiency due to the elimination of a big portion of Team Leader’s non-productive activities