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Software AG > Case Studies > Schwering & Hasse Ensures Quality Manufacturing at High Speed Using Apama

Schwering & Hasse Ensures Quality Manufacturing at High Speed Using Apama

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Metals

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Manufacturing Process Simulation

Services

System Integration

The Challenge

Schwering & Hasse (S&H), a Germany-based company, manufactures a massive volume of copper magnet wire, with 400 production lines producing 140,000 kilometers of wire per day in a 24/7 operation. The wire, which is coated with a thin layer of insulation, is a critical component of numerous electrical products, such as transformers and motors. The tolerances required for the insulation are minute, with even a tiny deviation from the specification rendering the wire useless. S&H's mission is to manufacture as much wire as possible with as few errors as possible. However, the company faced challenges in maintaining high quality standards due to rapidly changing customer demands and product specifications. The company's existing information systems were not equipped to create a factory that was truly “transparent” to both line workers and managers, and did not provide detailed, real-time information about every phase in the production process.

About The Customer

Schwering & Hasse (S&H) is a Germany-based company that specializes in the manufacture of copper magnet wire. The company operates 400 production lines 24 hours a day to produce enough magnetized copper wire each year to stretch beyond Venus. Copper magnet wire, which is coated with a thin layer of insulation, is a critical component of numerous electrical products, such as transformers and motors. The company works with many of the world’s leading manufacturers, such as Siemens®, Bosche® and Continental®, and understands that one quality lapse can jeopardize the entire vendor relationship. The company processes over a million euros per day in copper, employing hundreds of people and using prodigious amounts of electricity.

The Solution

S&H selected Apama as the platform for its new quality management solution. Apama gives S&H the ability to monitor dozens of independent quality factors in real time and process them against relevant production data. For example, Apama enables S&H to be aware of specific machines, copper lots, workers and production parameters such as temperature—all in the context of historical manufacturing data. The system can handle up to 50,000 production events per second, more than enough headroom to keep up with the production lines. Apama provided S&H with a complete toolset to design and implement the quality management solution across its complete “transparent factory.” The developer tools made it possible to create factory-floor-level interfaces using screens that line workers could use to monitor quality and input data of their own.

Operational Impact

The factory has become more transparent and managers are able to have a greater level of awareness of production operations than ever before.
Operators can detect subtle fluctuations in production results in real time and intervene immediately to guarantee that the products are error-free.
The company can introduce new products more quickly by modeling the production process and implementing new specifications on the factory floor.

Quantitative Benefit

The system can handle up to 50,000 production events per second.
New high-voltage fault detection devices and sensors enable Apama to monitor at a level of precision to within 25 millimeters.