Download PDF
Streamlining Weight Data Management for Improved Decision Making at Airbus Helicopters
Applicable Industries
- Education
- Packaging
Use Cases
- Intelligent Packaging
- Track & Trace of Assets
Services
- Training
The Challenge
Airbus Helicopters' Weight & Balance (W&B) team was faced with the challenge of collecting and analyzing data to predict the weight of a product during the conceptualization phase. The team had to gather relevant and current data from a broad range of stakeholders in a standardized manner. However, this process was proving to be a hurdle, slowing down both the data interrogation and the subsequent decision-making process. The manual data upload system did not allow for the creation of a standardized report that could be updated in real time, either internally by the different product development departments or externally by suppliers. Altair was tasked with creating a solution to these problems.
About The Customer
Airbus Helicopters is a division of Airbus, a global leader in aeronautics, space, and related services. The company's Weight & Balance (W&B) team is responsible for collecting and analyzing data to forecast the weight of a product during the conceptualization phase. The team works with a wide range of stakeholders, including different product development departments and external suppliers. The W&B team's work is crucial to the company's ability to design and manufacture helicopters that meet specific weight requirements for various applications, including oil and gas, rescue missions, and military use.
The Solution
After a thorough benchmarking period, Airbus Helicopters chose Altair’s Weight Analytics as it was the only solution that could meet the project brief in its entirety while still allowing secure access to its third-party suppliers. Once the Weight Analytics solution was implemented, Altair’s specialists provided a comprehensive services package which included on-site training and support sessions to help the W&B team gain a full understanding of the solution and the processes involved in importing data and exporting reports. The solution was customized to support several different import templates and was set up to automatically initiate a daily data import of each department’s and each supplier’s weights data in .csv format. Once imported, the data could be quickly checked by the Weight Managers and tracked in Weight Analytics.
Operational Impact
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
IoT Data Analytics Case Study - Packaging Films Manufacturer
The company manufactures packaging films on made to order or configure to order basis. Every order has a different set of requirements from the product characteristics perspective and hence requires machine’s settings to be adjusted accordingly. If the film quality does not meet the required standards, the degraded quality impacts customer delivery causes customer dissatisfaction and results in lower margins. The biggest challenge was to identify the real root cause and devise a remedy for that.
Case Study
Zenon the Ideal Basis for An Ergonomic HMI
KHS develops and produces machines and equipment for filling and packaging in the drinks industry. Because drinks manufacturing, filling and packaging consist of a number of highly complex processes, the user-friendly and intuitive operation of equipment is increasingly gaining in significance. In order to design these processes as simple as possible for the user, KHS decided to introduce a uniform, transparent and standardized solution to the company. The HMI interface should meet the requirement for people with different qualifications and enable them to work on a standard platform.
Case Study
Sparks Dynamics Assists Atlas Container Secure a $15,000 BGE Energy Rebate
The ReMASTER Compressed Air Monitoring system was installed in 2015. This system is capable of monitoring compressed air system parameters on a continuous basis and transferring that information to a cloud server which can be accessed by Atlas Container personnel, Industrial Diagnostics and Sparks Dynamics. This information was collected into a database which can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet or displayed graphically using Sparks Dynamics ViewMaster Software. The average annual compressed air electricity expense was estimated to be approximately $116,000. This is based on an incremental $/KWh electric rate of $.091 per KWh and an estimated compressed air energy consumption of 1,279,200 KWH. The implementation phase of Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) for the Compressed Air System included: • Identification and repair of compressed air leaks • Understanding of compressed air usage per manufacturing machine and installation of shut off valves when the machines are no longer in production mode • Identification of misapplications of compressed air to include blow offs, venturis, and cooling scenarios • Understand system pressure requirements and potential installation of point of use pressure regulation.
Case Study
IoT platform Enables Safety Solutions for U.S. School Districts
Designed to alert drivers when schoolchildren are present, especially in low-visibility conditions, school-zone flasher signals are typically updated manually at each school. The switching is based on the school calendar and manually changed when an unexpected early dismissal occurs, as in the case of a weather-event altering the normal schedule. The process to reprogram the flashers requires a significant effort by school district personnel to implement due to the large number of warning flashers installed across an entire school district.
Case Study
Automated Pallet Labeling Solution for SPR Packaging
SPR Packaging, an American supplier of packaging solutions, was in search of an automated pallet labeling solution that could meet their immediate and future needs. They aimed to equip their lines with automatic printer applicators, but also required a solution that could interface with their accounting software. The challenge was to find a system that could read a 2D code on pallets at the stretch wrapper, track the pallet, and flag any pallets with unread barcodes for inspection. The pallets could be single or double stacked, and the system needed to be able to differentiate between the two. SPR Packaging sought a system integrator with extensive experience in advanced printing and tracking solutions to provide a complete traceability system.
Case Study
Mondi Implements Statistics-Based Health Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance
The extrusion and other machines at Mondi’s plant are large and complex, measuring up to 50 meters long and 15 meters high. Each machine is controlled by up to five programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which log temperature, pressure, velocity, and other performance parameters from the machine’s sensors. Each machine records 300–400 parameter values every minute, generating 7 gigabytes of data daily.Mondi faced several challenges in using this data for predictive maintenance. First, the plant personnel had limited experience with statistical analysis and machine learning. They needed to evaluate a variety of machine learning approaches to identify which produced the most accurate results for their data. They also needed to develop an application that presented the results clearly and immediately to machine operators. Lastly, they needed to package this application for continuous use in a production environment.
