Lantek Workshop Radar, quick location in the workshop
by Lantek
Advanced Manufacturing
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The correct identification and location of all the workshop assets is a necessary condition for the correct implementation of efficient and effective internal logistics that can help maximize productive
capacity. Traditional methods of identification and location are based on the human factor and are prone to error.
Lantek Workshop Radar is Lantek’s solution for locating assets— sheet metal, tools, products, etc.—inside the workshop. Perfectly integrated with Lantek’s manufacturing suite, it allows its operators to minimize lost time and have a much more accurate and updated inventory at all times.
Let’s assume the following scenario. A typical day in a manufacturing plant. The operator in charge of the cutting machine checks the next job to be done. Then they realize that they need a special steel sheet that they don’t have close by and need look for it. Ideally they would have been able to prepare all the necessary material while the machine was cutting the previous job, but with the workload of the last few months there just wasn’t time. The operator consults the inventory system and goes to look for it at the indicated location, but it’s not there. There is so much movement in the warehouse that the information is often outdated. After fifteen minutes of intense searching, they finally find it and can continue with the job.
Fifteen minutes may seem like a short delay, but it’s not. Increasingly smaller batch sizes result in a greater number of metal sheet and tool changes, which increases the probability of time wasted looking for these items. In short, longer machine preparation time and less effective production time.
This doesn’t just happen with materials and tools. Small batches also means there are numerous different parts waiting to be processed—the socalled work in process—which increases the likelihood of them getting lost and the possibility of errors dues to their incorrect identification.
The correct identification and location of all the workshop assets is a necessary condition for the correct implementation of efficient and effective internal logistics that can help maximize productive capacity. Traditional methods of identification and location are based on the human factor and are prone to error.
Fortunately, the emergence and decreasing costs of real-time location technologies, such as UWBLS— Ultra Wide Band Location Systems—or ultra high frequency RFID, allows the development of much more advanced internal logistics systems.
Lantek Workshop Radar is Lantek’s solution for locating assets— sheet metal, tools, products, etc.—inside the workshop. Perfectly integrated with Lantek’s manufacturing suite, it allows its operators to minimize lost time and have a much more accurate and updated inventory at all times. In addition, Lantek Workshop Radar also improves the monitoring of production. By assigning workshop areas to production stages, you can obtain information such as when a particular order enters and leaves the different work centers, identify and quantify the work in process, and know the main bottlenecks of your production process.
Lantek Workshop Radar is Lantek’s asset location solution that will minimize wasted time in processes in which the human factor plays an important part.
Kerf Developments has been building plasma, oxy-fuel and waterjet cutting machines since 2002. The company originally started as a service-based organisation repairing and upgrading a broad range of profile cutting machinery. It was the experiences gained working on such a varied range of equipment that formed the basis of the current machine range.
It’s the new manufacturing paradigm developed thanks to the possibilities offered by connectivity and the cloud. An increasing number of companies are offering their software associated with Cloud Manufacturing, such as ERP, CRM, MES.
The Spanish industrial sector is facing an enormous challenge in order to become more competitive in the midst of digital transformation and in a market in which new consumer habits are pushing us towards a new form of manufacturing. The client in the digital era wants THEIR order (in capital letters because they don’t want what’s standard, they want something that’s customized) and they want it in record time, which requires us to be more streamlined and fast.
