Background
ITT Industries is a global engineering and manufacturing company with leading positions in the markets it serves, generating sales of over $4.7 billion. It is the world's premier supplier of pumps, systems and services to move and control water and other fluids. The company is a major supplier of sophisticated military defence systems and provides advanced technical and operational services to a broad range of government agencies. They also produce connectors, switches, keypads and cabling used in telecommunications, computing, aerospace and industrial applications, as well as network services. Making industrial components for a number of other markets, including transportation, construction and aerospace, ITT is headquartered in the USA and employs approximately 38,000 people around the world.
Overview
In conjunction with the introduction of a Lean Manufacturing process, ITT wished to optimise and integrate the shop floor Kanban process with their existing MRP/ERP applications. The task facing them was to synchronise the MRP inventory locations with the transfers of physical inventory on the shop-floor.
When inventory is consumed at a bin location within the shop-floor Kanban work-cell, information is captured using a wireless Personal Data Assistant (PDA) equipped with an integral bar code reader. Each bin movement results in a scan event that records the physical stock movement and triggers the Modcomp middleware application to perform all the necessary actions to relocate the inventory within the MRP system.
As parts are also procured from external suppliers, the Modcomp applications are also configured to communicate with Vendor companies.
At the same time, the opportunity to optimise the warehousing and goods inward processes was taken. The new process allows users to check all finished goods leaving the production line. If the product can be used to fulfil an urgent order, it is passed directly to goods dispatch. Bypassing the stores input-retrieval (put away) cycle has improved order fulfilment by removing this 2/3 days delay.
System Hardware diagram
System Overview
Wireless LAN
The Radio LAN 802.11b works with stationary transceivers called access points which act as the broadcast and receive base stations for wireless network traffic. This is an open technology that enables users to connect to the wireless Ethernet with any PCI or PCMCIA WiFi standard network interface card. The access point(s) are hard wired to the LAN to enable the transmission of network traffic to the various connected devices.
Shop Floor Terminal Device
Rather than providing a simple bar capture device it is now possible to employ more sophisticated devices that provide bi-directional communication to the shop floor.
Modcomp integrated rugged pocket PC devices equipped with integral bar code scanner and 802.11b wireless LAN. These provide a range of interface options including, data capture (bar code and keyed input), messaging and information retrieval via the Web browser interface. The infrared port can also be employed to drive printers and other IrDA compliant devices.
Comms Server
Based on open technology, the Modcomp server provides the communication and program logic necessary to provide the services.
Existing Application Reuse
Wherever possible, Modcomp endeavour to reuse existing applications. This has major advantages over application redevelopment and ensures that existing IT investments are maximised.
Operation
The Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) allows users to interact with the ERP/MRP applications in real-time. Operators use the terminal device to scan Kanban bin bar codes, triggering events to the Modcomp application, which performs a sequence of operations that transfer the relevant inventory within the MRP database.
A browser interface on the terminal device is used to provide feedback in real-time to the operator.
Benefits Summary
- Vastly reduced data entry time required to key stock movement transactions.
- Major saving in management time required in communicating with shop floor.
- Real-time view of inventory and sub-component production.
- Reduced Lead Time.