Trailer and Rigid Body Assembly Performance System
Lawrence David is a long established manufacturer of commercial trailer & rigid bodies based in Peterborough, UKIn order to improve their manufacturing assembly process the company invested in a PlantRun system.
The system monitors the build of Curtain Sider semi-trailers through five assembly bays, each of which is equipped with a tablet and wireless barcode scanner.
When a trailer enters a bay, the chassis barcode is scanned. The system looks up the associated works order (job number), and sales order (A/O number) from a .csv file exported from the Lawrence David ERP/MES system. The target build time is displayed as a visual countdown on the tablet. The shift target is set each day and the system calculates target time per trailer.
When the build in a bay is completed, the “End Job” button is pressed on the tablet. Trailers move to the next bay only when the builds in all bays are complete. If the next bay is still in use, a downtime reason is selected automatically for the delay.
If the next bay is free, then a new timer starts measuring the transition time - the time taken for moving the trailer between bays. The countdown timer stops when a bay is finished. After all bays are finished, the timer resumes until the chassis is moved to next bay. The chassis barcode is scanned again, the transition time is recorded and the next count down timer begins.
If any issues cause the build to stop then a reason for the downtime can be selected on the tablet. Some downtime reasons are recorded automatically, such as for lunch break or when there is a wait time for a bay to finish.
If the downtime reason is PNTR (Planned Not to Run), the countdown timer will stop, otherwise it continues. If the stoppage requires additional help, the operator can press the callout button and select the relevant team to call out. At that point it will email the supervisor/foreman as well as the relevant team. The system records the time from callout to arrival, time from arrival to fixed and time from fixed to running.
If the countdown timer passes the target time, the bay status changes to slow running. When the operator comes to set the trailer build as finished it will not be accepted until a reason for slow running has been selected from a list on the tablet.
By continuously monitoring assembly accurate real-time information and status of production can be viewed over the internet on PC’s, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Analysis and reporting tools are built in or the data can be exported for use in preferred reporting tools.
The system is hosted on a virtual machine on a physical server at Lawrence David.
The system was supplied ready for installation as pre-tested and pre-configured hardware and software. Installation was carried out by Lawrence David engineering staff with remote support from PlantRun engineers.
As the system was pre-configured to a Functional Design Specification, agreed with Lawrence David, all the relevant information such as Operator ID, Product ID, downtime reasons, shift patterns etc was already in the system, removing the need for any on site programming. Training was included with the system so that Lawrence David staff can readily update it for any day-to-day changes that need to be made.
A maintenance contract ensures that Lawrence David staff have easy fast access to technical support by email or telephone, directly from PlantRun engineers, whenever needed to ensure smooth running and best return on investment.
System Features
5 Customer supplied tablets5 wireless Bluetooth barcode scanners
7 SmartView connections
Shift Tracking
Lead Operator Tracking
Product Tracking
Job / Works Order / Batch Tracking
Slow Speed Running Reasons
Response Time Tracking
Emailing and Automatic Reports
Remote Workstation License
ERP / MES Link
Visit the Lawrence David website
