One-source automation solutions for new-age automotive makers - harmonizing relationship between men and machines
Case in point: Subros Ltd.
At a glance
Focus: One-source automation solutions for new-age automotive makers harmonizing relationship between men and machine
Challenge: To scale up the value chain: to match global standards.
Approach: Initially, the customer had shown interest only for inspection however as the conversation moved ahead, Omron introduced them with the concept of Traceability along with inspection which made
Impact: Almost 50% improvement in productivity.
OMRON AUTOMATION
Headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, OMRON Corporation is a multi-billion-dollar, diversified company with business units producing industrial automation products, electronic components, and healthcare equipment and ticketing systems. OMRON Industrial Automation is a global leader providing complete automation solutions for industrial applications. It brings innovation to manufacturing sites through automation with "Integrated”, "intelligent" and "interactive" concepts with one of the world’s most sophisticated Input-Logic-Output-Robotics + Safety (ILOR+S) technology including the proprietary sensing technology.
OMRON Automation – India, now more than two decades old in the country, caters to over 7 industrial applications encompassing the wide requirements of packaging, automotive, material handling, solar, food & beverages, textile and panel building applications. The company is focusing on the solution business, including Robotics and IIoT, providing “One Stop” solutions, to improve the overall efficiency on diverse production sites. Focusing on the themes of quality, safety and the environment, they support manufacturing innovation worldwide with their unique sensing & controlling technologies. OMRON is rapidly expanding its operations with focus on all major cities making its presence felt across the country with a strong network of offices, automation centre, training centres, sales & marketing force, application teams, resident engineers and channel partners to address the ever challenging requirements of the customers. A major factor in OMRON’s progress globally & locally has been the strong commitment towards its customers keeping ‘Quality First’.
To learn more, please visit: www.omron-ap.co.in , www.omron.co.in
Subros Ltd.
Subros Ltd. is one of the frontrunners amongst the integrated manufacturing units in India producing key parts of auto air conditioning systems for passenger vehicles, buses, trucks, railways, etc.
Business challenge
To scale up the value chain: to match global standards.
To scale up the value chain: to match global standards
To ensure zero-defects manufacturing: assembly of innumerable complex components needing constant quality checks; one defective product may lead to customer problem bringing financial loss, setbacks to credibility
The customer was keen to enhance quality and control productivity for its Heating Ventilation Air Conditioner (HVAC) units.
The unit was making 50 variants for different models for cars with minute changes in the specifications.
It required a thorough quality check and monitoring at multiple inspection points for ensuring correct assembly of parts in the unit.
Reduced cycle time and enough flexibility were also required to ensure ease of programming while adding new models in the future.
The customer was contending coordination with three different vendors for the different components used in the existing solution.
The need had gained more significance owing to a recent major fire mishap and so re-implementation of the inspection solution was utmost important in least possible time.
Industry 4.0 solution
Initially, the customer had shown interest only for inspection however as the conversation moved ahead, Omron introduced them with the concept of Traceability along with inspection which made them embrace and experience Industry 4.0 for managing the current requirement and also to factor in future requirements and expectations. The customer understood the benefits of this complete solution and gave a nod for the implementation.
The ‘complete’ solution: A ‘one-stop / single-source’ solution designed to leverage the latest technological developments in automation technology to ensure it addresses not only the current issues but also the future dynamics which the team thought was going to be imminent in such a scenario.
‘Total Traceability Sysmac & Robot based Quality Inspection Solution’: Leveraging Omron’s wide basket of products that included PLC, robot, vision, safety and engineering capabilities.
A vision camera mounted on a six – axes inverted robot: Not only inspects the quality but also captures images and stores these along with process parameters.
The solution scored high over all the key parameters amongst the existing competitive brands: in terms of timeliness, accuracy, reliability and productivity.
Designed on a single source platform: it showed exceptional results in saving time while planning, commissioning and managing after-sales support.
The solution up-graded the existing solution and delivered improvement of productivity to almost 50% productivity and additional traceability benefits which are one-of-its-kind in the industry.
A major risk that was foreseen was delivery and implementation in very short time. But it was mitigated through –
Proof of concept
Simulation
Pre-plan of execution and development
Key benefits
| Area | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Productivity & Throughput | Almost 50% improvement in productivity |
| Quality | Cycle time reduced: from 45 secs to 30 secs with impeccable quality. |
| Quality | Real time availability of the data and images: for the shop floor team for statistical analysis, quality control, quick identification of faulty parts, managing and tracing loss of components while processing from one plant to another, and for deeper inspection and judgments – all of which the customer was finding difficult to do with the older system. |
| Quality | Empowered with Traceability, the final assembly inspection is now better equipped to tackle ‘Issues’ – by being able to trace back all key parts in the production chain. This exemplifies the utility of this technology in managing human errors & rejection escalations at the end user sites. |