A report of the production of a German furniture production
Running processes are the basis of an efficient production - of course also in furniture production. But what do you do if the machine suddenly reports an error? How do you find out where it is stuck and how do you reach the right service partner? What steps do you undertake to get your production process running again?
We discussed these and other questions in a joint webinar by tapio and Spectral Audio Möbel GmbH from Germany. Jochen Fuchs, head of the wood parts production, reported on his daily practice and explained how his team manages to set up the production process efficiently and safely with the help of digital tools. Additionally, the tapio team explained why tapio's ecosystem is of high importance for digital applications in the wood industry.
Insights into the furniture production of Spectral Audio Möbel
It quickly becomes visible, that Jochen Fuchs is proud of the furniture of Spectral Audio Möbel when he presented a few photos of the tasteful and high-quality individual furniture. With around 150 employees, Spectral produces only bespoke and is globally active. The German furniture producer focuses on innovative furniture solutions, for example with sound integration and individually designed glass elements. For this purpose, the company invested in modern machinery a few years ago. The digital connection of the machines and a well-thought-out process chain are not missing.
The ecosystem as a framework for the digital wood industry
At the beginning of the webinar, Jan Essig explains that tapio describes itself as an open ecosystem and thus opens the door to the digital world for the wood industry.
The workshop is colorful, as machines, tools and materials from different manufacturers and suppliers come together. There are also different service partners. This colorful reality of production should, if possible, also be digitally reproduced and information should flow together. For this purpose, it should be avoided that there are numerous different logins of different suppliers. Better are direct, simple solutions that offer digital applications via the ecosystem for the wood industry and thus allow different applications to be integrated technologically via the ecosystem.
In the meantime, 41 partners belong to tapio's ecosystem.
The typical Monday morning & the problem areas in the workshop
If a machine reports an error, the production process is often delayed. As a machine operator, you cannot be at every machine at the same time to see which machine is possibly reporting an error or how long the remaining time is. Especially when several machines are operated by one operator, this is a real challenge.
Additionally, service is often required when a machine stands still or even a production stop occurs. The desire is to quickly find solutions here helping to find the right contact person in the service department who solves the problem. This pain point also plays a role at Spectral, as the machine operator is responsible for the nesting system and the 35m edge banding machine. For instance, keeping track of when which edgeband needs to be replaced, is already a challenge. In addition, one’s patience is often tested when put on hold in a service queue in case one cannot fix the machine error yourself.
The digital solutions
First of all, Jan Essig introduces MachineBoard. One of the very first own tapio applications, which allows to see the different machine statuses of different machines via smartphone, tablet or PC. In this way, different parameters and errors can be displayed for each machine - a live monitoring system for machine operators with live data on the current status of the machines.
At Spectral, this tool is also linked to Bluetooth headphones. In this way, the machine operator receives the push notification on the smartphone and the acoustic signal via the headphones and can act accordingly at an early stage. tapio solves the service problem with the ServiceBoard which helps to create a service ticket easily and quickly. Additionally, photos can be added to the respective service ticket. The service partners receive the ticket immediately and automatically forward it to the appropriate contact person. In addition, a video diagnosis can be started via the ServiceBoard. Thus, the problem can be solved more targeted and faster. The ServiceBoard clearly saves service costs for production and enables improved communication.
Jan Essig shows live in the webinar video, how the ServiceBoard works and how to solve the problem with a few clicks.
In addition, Jan Essig presents how you can access previous errors in the history that have already been solved. This is a popular function, especially in multi-shift operation, to inform the team and to document solutions transparently.
The ServiceBoard in action at Spectral
Alongside the live demonstration of the ServiceBoard, Jochen Fuchs brought a service case from a typical Monday morning. When the machine was switched on, he received an error message stating that the friction forces of the X-axis were too high. This could not be solved anyway, so Jochen Fuchs recorded the error in the ServiceBoard with his smartphone. Within an hour, the technician called him and was able to connect to the machine to perform a friction force measurement. Shortly afterwards, the machine was running faultlessly again. The error was documented in the ServiceBoard so that Jochen Fuchs' team was able to see the solution.
Jochen Fuchs' summary at the end of the webinar:
By using the ServiceBoard and MachineBoard we have become much more flexible in production when faults occur. Some errors can be eliminated just by looking at the history of the ServiceBoard to see if the error has occurred and has been solved before. With the help of the documented solution the error can often be corrected easily and fast.
Off you go for your digital workshop!
The ServiceBoard can be downloaded as a demo version from the App-Store and Goolge Play and the demo mode can be tested free of charge. For real use, simply register at my.tapio.one and buy a ServiceBoard license. Afterwards you can simply create your machines on my.tapio.one and use the ServiceBoard. The MachineBoard license can be purchased in the same way.
