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Plant Control Floor optimizes precast hollow core production

Elematic FloorMES

The new manufacturing execution system, Plant Control Floor, offers a complete solution to optimize hollow core slab production. Advanced tools for production planning, monitoring and analysis enable enhanced production efficiency and a casting process with zero interruptions.

The new system focuses on the efficiency of hollow-core slab production. It optimizes the use of production lines and work schedules and monitors the work progress. The main objective of the manufacturing execution system is smooth, continuous precast floor production.

“An uninterrupted casting process is key to our customers,” says Jarkko Salmensivu, Automation & Software Product Director at Elematic.

“Accurate production and machinery data enables reactions to any deviations in time, before any bottlenecks occur. Up-to-date data also contributes to preventive maintenance, which decreases downtime substantially. Safe and automated routines for production planning and monitoring help to improve productivity, which will further improve business.”

Replacing piles of paper

The story behind the new software originated in active cooperation between Elematic and precast factories. Regular communication with production facilities forms the core of the development of Plant Control Floor.

“We noticed the increasing effort among our customers to carry out production planning using stopwatches and notebooks to improve production efficiency,” Salmensivu says.

“This, combined with the rapid advance of automation and information technologies, inspired us to do our bit and develop the system to automate the time-consuming planning and analysis processes.”

As automatic monitoring is not typically done in hollow-core production, the new execution system has a lot to offer in the field.

“Compared with manual production planning with piles of paper, automation will accelerate the use of all resources, both human and material. It helps the factory to make the most of what it has,” Salmensivu summarizes.

Elematic FloorMES

Hands-on tool for production supervisors

The manufacturing execution system is a hands-on tool for production supervisors. Thanks to the accurate information, they can base estimates for the required time per phase on historical data, which helps them to plan working phases and optimal use of the factory’s resources. The new system visualizes the factory status in a single, centralized location, offering the operator extensive up-to-date status information about production.

Automatic nesting places hollow-core slabs in the casting beds optimally, ensuring high utilization rates of the production capacity while reducing material consumption. The centrally controlled system also ensures efficient control over the production machinery in the factory. Moreover, fluctuations in production that consist of elements with different difficulty levels can be evened out.

Handling the whole process

In addition to functional production systems, it is important to consider the entire process. To make the workflow as efficient as possible, Elematic, together with its cooperation partner Trimble, has built a solution that enables the site manager to connect a building information model (BIM) to manufacturing.

“The site manager can receive up-to-date information about the precast element site delivery schedules in an easy-to-understand, 3D form, ensuring that the correct precast elements are delivered on time. Based on the situation at the site, the manager can request changes to delivery schedules. This enables manufacturing and logistics to optimize their activities accordingly,” explains Jarkko Salmensivu, Elematic Automation & Software Product Director.

Site-driven delivery management enables seamless information flow throughout the delivery chain. Delivery schedules, all the way from raw material vendors to production and the construction site, can be planned according to actual needs on-site. This not only enables smooth work planning on-site and in the factory, but also reduces costs in the entire delivery chain.

Watch Plant Control Floor in use

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