Impact Stories

39% productivity improvement through two years of innovation

North American plant recognized as a globally leading smart factory

• Challenge: A plant that has in-sourced parts manufacturing—metal press working, plastic injection molding, painting—must raise productivity and quality together
• Need to automate heavy, hazardous and labor-intensive assembly, welding and fastening tasks
• Need to proactively address productivity losses caused by anomalies at each production stage and by equipment faults
• Need for efficient management of plant energy use

• Production & quality management: Introduced AI-based intelligent injection molding machines. Temperature and pressure sensors on the molds collect and analyze data in real time to maintain optimal injection conditions
• Integrated end-to-end production: Vertical integration performing everything from parts manufacturing to final assembly and packaging in one place reduces logistics cost and production lead time. Robots handle hazardous and demanding tasks
• Anomaly checks at each production stage are automated with AI, and an equipment detection system flags productivity-loss factors from equipment faults in advance
• Plant management: BECON, a building energy management solution, monitors power usage in real time and enables remote control

• Productivity up 39% (over the past 2 years)
• Parts productivity up approx. 20%, defect rate improved approx. 60%
• Field failure rate down 61%, process defect rate down 43%
• Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) up 21%, product development lead time cut 30%
• Energy consumption down 22%, greenhouse gas emissions per product down 19%

These results were achieved through the customer's smart factory innovation initiatives as a whole.