The customer is a multinational company in the sinter metals industry. We’ve anonymized their information in this case study due to the confidential nature of their customers.
Customer
Anonymized
Industry
Aerospace
Location
N/A
Customer Website
N/A
The Challenge
This manufacturer makes thousands of type parts for the aerospace industry through sintering, a process by which metal powder gets coalesced into a solid mass by heating it and compressing it with a mold. Keeping track of their many molds was challenging. Poor user interfaces and human error made real-time access to tool status data inaccessible and hard to verify. Without this data, the team couldn’t properly plan production or efficiently manage mold inventory. These tools represent a significant portion of the overall cost of production.
The Results
Improved traceability through better data collection
The team eliminated data errors from manual data entry by automating their tool tracking process with Tulip apps and IoT devices. The team used the app to ensure data accuracy throughout their process. With this data, the team reduced their tooling inventory. These tools are a significant production cost so this significantly reduced their total costs.
Optimize tooling lifetime and maintenance through better tool management
The Tulip app also helped the process engineering team better estimate tool lifetime. This information helps provide timely refurbishment without interrupting production. Without interruptions, they’re seeing less downtime. Furthermore, the app helps them accurately determine the number of tools needed for a production order.
The Bottom Line
75% reduction of operating time in less than 3 months
The team was able to build, deploy and see ROI in less than three months. Thanks to the tool tracking app, the team was able to considerably reduce operating time. Greater visibility into where tools are in the process reduces search time for tools. Visibility into tool usage and refurbishment improved resource management and reduced manual oversight.