Solutions | General Business

Streamlining Manufacturing Line Stoppages

A car manufacturing plant is being reactivated by a company starting production of fuel cell technology cars.  The company expects many line stoppages during the first months of production.  In preparation, the line supervisors will need to provide its line workers a quick and easy way to signal an issue with the line manufacturing process, and the line supervisors will need to be able to receive the notifications even as they are mobile walking through the plant.

Solving this challenge will benefit the company in the following ways:

• By quickly activating a line stoppage trigger, loss of raw materials can be reduced, and dangerous situations can be averted.
• Shortening the time required for line supervisors to receive stoppage notifications shortens the time needed to correct the situation and the time required to restart the line, improving overall productivity.
• Allowing line supervisors to stay in touch with line stoppages while being mobile allows them to more frequently inspect the line and interact with line employees concerning the manufacturing process.
• By providing line stoppage privileges to employees, they feel more a part of the process, driving higher levels of attention to detail and quality.

Solution

The focus of this solution is to efficiently notify manufacturing supervisors of a line stoppage.

• A line worker notices a machine-supported component being improperly positioned for the next assembly process; the worker pushes a nearby line stoppage button position on the wall,  which broadcasts a unique message indicating where the button is located, hence where in the manufacturing process the issue has been identified.
• The broadcast is disseminated to overhead paging systems, supervisors’ desk phones, desktops, mobile IP phones, and/or cellular devices.  To each device, a message is provided that identifies where along the manufacturing line the issue has been identified.
• The line supervisor selects an ‘Acknowledgement’ soft key on their mobile Cisco IP phone, sending a notification to other line supervisors that the issue is being addressed.
• A line worker notices fuel cell components that are damaged as they are positioned for assembly; they reach for the nearby pull cord which drives blue light strobes and a particular siren indicating a critical line stoppage, requiring a special response team to address the situation.
• A line supervisor determines there will be a significant line stoppage; to confer with other line supervisors and management, he hits a button on his mobile IP phone which initiates an instant conference call connecting all required parties

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