Smart system improves logistics processes
A new system from WERMA UK offers a means to improve transparency of operation, identify bottlenecks and disruptions to the production flow and lead to improvements in service and efficiency by taking cost and wastage out of the operation.
The system is already in use nationwide with the major online retailing operations where disruptions to operations are measured in terms of minutes and a simple and robust system was required in order to fulfil three basic requirements: Hardware to give an “alert”, optically and audibly that there is a problem on the line; an intelligent but simple system to then notify those who need to deal with the issue; and a means of monitoring how long it took to “rectify” the problem and also capture other data such as frequency of such events or repetitive error codes.
How does Andonspeed work? A signal tower is manually activated by a member of staff on the shop floor to call for help. By just pressing a button a signal light is illuminated on the workstation, clearly indicating the call for action required.
Werma’s WIN software package notifies the response team at their workstation PC or with the aid of another locally sited signal tower where the problem is. The call for action can also be sent automatically by email to the service concerned.
The response team will then attend to the disruption. The software allows the team to record the nature of the fault, how long it took to rectify and produce simple and clear reports giving a transparency to the operation.
