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Upgrading from Manual Transcription to Real-time Monitoring with Advantech’s Industry 4.0 Capabilities
Technology Category
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Apparel
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Manufacturing System Automation
- Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
- Process Control & Optimization
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
The Challenge
The Ching Luh Group, a leading sports footwear manufacturer, was facing the challenge of automating the collection of real-time production information from manual transcription. The traditional approach of manually recording and entering data into a computer system was cumbersome, slow, and prone to errors and inconsistencies. This outdated method prevented managers from having a firm grasp of the real-time production status, hindering the ability to make meaningful improvements. In today’s fiercely competitive market with rapidly changing customer demands, a shoemaker that persists with this outdated approach risks devastation at the hands of competitors. With the advent of Industry 4.0 and associated smart factory technologies, shoemakers and other textile manufacturers must adapt or die, sink or swim.
About The Customer
The Ching Luh Group is one of the world’s leading sports footwear manufacturers with manufacturing locations in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The firm has won the favor of some of the world’s leading sports brands, producing major sneaker lines for them. Moreover, to maintain its cutting-edge reputation, the firm has been quick to optimize its traditional manufacturing processes with the help of Industry 4.0 solutions from Advantech. The Ching Luh Group understood that it was imperative to build a mature ICT infrastructure with a practical management platform to rapidly and efficiently integrate machines and their data. Such comprehensive, real-time integration makes key manufacturing information highly transparent, enormously increasing opportunities for optimization and improvement.
The Solution
In early 2017, the Ching Luh Group introduced Advantech’s process visualization solution at its factory in Vietnam in order to build a real-time manufacturing visibility system for the factory floor. Based on Advantech’s iFactory Solution Ready Package (SRP), this solution allowed the firm to develop its own specifically developed application functions. The iFactory SRP drastically reduced system development time, allowing intelligent applications to be implemented with ease and simplicity. It also efficiently integrated Advantech’s embedded automation platform, WebAccess/SCADA software, and wireless data acquisition WISE modules, shortening the implementation schedules for real-time equipment monitoring, manufacturing processes, and energy consumption systems.
Operational Impact
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