Factory of the future: Digital value streams in manufacturing and supply chain

Tiago Sacchetti,Director of Bosch Industrial Consulting Spain and Portugal.   spoke about “bringing the factory of the future to the present”. To address digitisation and its success factors, the Bosch speaker presented the Iceberg Model.

 “It is necessary to have a connectivity that allows digitising, sensorising and obtaining data automatically. This allows us to present the information and possibly transform it into knowledge. Also interact with that knowledge with other systems, with other sources of information inside and outside our plants, with the aim of developing a smart plant. Agility, flexibility and intelligence are key factors of competitiveness”.

“In the iceberg model, the importance of knowledge, different skills and teamwork stands out. On the other hand, it is extremely important to have a production system, the standardisation of machines and hardware, and a connected plant, not only in terms of the industrial warehouse building, but also vertical storage systems or not, as well as indirect departments such as human resources, engineering, purchasing... as well as suppliers and customers, even if they are not direct”.

“In addition to being connected, the factory of the future is, of course, digital in the management of the product and the process in connection with our suppliers, not only of materials and direct components, but also of tooling, machinery and other services. When we compare it with other sectors such as pharmaceuticals or agriculture, we see that the automotive sector has room for improvement in this area”.

“The factory of the future is agile, in terms of the ability to adapt to customer and market requirements by changing simply and easily, while maintaining competitiveness. It is a zero waste, lean, and smart factory, in terms of automating business decisions that also gives us new levels of agility. There is a lot to remember so that this ecosystem that we intend to create works autonomously and is resilient to change. The connection with the company's strategy is essential, identifying where we are, since we already know very well what Supply Chain, IT, etc. tools and methodologies are better suited to our activity; our monitoring technologies such as artificial intelligence or 5G, and clearly define where we want to go based on planning”.

“In retrospect of the last ten years, we started doing pilot projects that we extended to the value chains and at Bosch we are currently, in some cases such as our chassis and braking activities, in what we call International Production Networks (IPN), network that leverages standardisation of hardware and data models to create advantages".

Sacchetti gave a "tangibility" approach to the model that was presented with an example of connected energy management 4.0, focused on sustainability, a project that has resulted in energy savings of 40% through the use of compressed air instead of electric actuators at the German plant in Homburg. Production control systems and machines are connected to an Energy Platform and key figures are automatically calculated to compare the efficiency of lines, equipment and plants worldwide. As benefits, objective measures have been developed to reduce energy consumption; a quick response in case of deviations through live monitoring of key indicators; and the reduction of technical personnel through the partial automation of PDCA (plan, do, check, act) processes”.

The Bosch speaker spoke of savings of 100,000 euros in the plant, through the optimisation of equipment maintenance based on wear measurements of wear parts and the connection of the Energy Platform to third-party systems to automatically activate the order spare parts when necessary. Regarding benefits, he indicated a greater availability of the system; reduction of maintenance costs; and increase the useful life of the equipment through the prevention of load peaks such as those that occur just before a defect occurs. 

Regarding the management of the total maximum load peak, a parameterisable and smart disconnection of the machines is carried out with a minimum effect on production and the incorporation of energy producers, such as CHP cogeneration or emergency reserve energy systems) and storage to smooth the peak load curve. A comprehensive control strategy for energy producers and consumers has been achieved; reduction of load peaks with automated optimisation in the short and medium term; and reduction of charging networks through the smoothing of the energy consumption curves.

Tiago Sacchetti concluded by reiterating that "there are great possibilities for the automotive sector to improve the connection of the entire value chain, including suppliers and customers".

Ponencia publicada en el número 2.375 de AutoRevista

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