Initial situation and challenge
Establishment of a central system for tracing the origins of components was of crucial importance to Fränkische Industrial Pipes (FIP). The aim was to record the production process from raw materials to delivery, in order to meet increasing requirements for transparency and at the same time proactively ensure product quality. Such a system must continuously link master, process and quality data to each individual product in order to create a digital representation of that product.
A key challenge for FIP initially was to further develop existent processes such that they enabled telemetry- and quality-data to be linked to products. In addition to the internal change process, this required a technologically flexible solution which could also be used to implement other use-cases and made available to internal as well as external stakeholders.
- Dependence on multiple departments
- Global connection of factories to the cloud platform
- Technical interpretation of data
- Quality of master data
About the client
FRÄNKISCHE Industrial Pipes (FIP) develops and produces customer-oriented, innovative solutions in the fields of fluid management and protection components, charging and storage applications as well as battery and thermal management for the automotive sector and industry. As a wholly owned subsidiary of the owner-managed FRÄNKISCHE Group, FIP is a globally active partner to renowned customers with locations in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. The company is headquartered in Königsberg, Lower Franconia, Germany. The company, which was spun off from FRÄNKISCHE Rohrwerke in 2008, employs around 4,400 people worldwide.
Planned solution
The aim of the portal solution was to ensure effective traceability and digitize conventional production forming part of the process chain. To this end, the focus was not only on establishment of a robust cloud architecture, but also on digitization of the various production processes.
A flexible and highly scalable edge and cloud architecture enabled smooth integration of data into the various production processes. In the cloud, telemetry-data collected from the edge are now linked to ERP, MES, SCM and quality-data, and made available at the traceability portal. A central element of the architecture is the Azure Data Explorer which allows time-series data generated at globally distributed factories to be processed in near real-time and represented in the portal. In addition, it was important for the architecture to be flexible enough to process and store different data types.
The database generated in this way forms a basis for presentation of the different areas and for searches in the portal solution:
„b.telligent's traceability portal has sustainably optimized our production processes. Their customized portal solution is a great asset for our company, internally as well as externally. They are more than a supplier - they are our strategic partner for innovation and success."
– Stefan Endroff, Director Digital Transformation
Results and achievements
The successful completion of the project enabled us to achieve comprehensive coverage of manufacturing processes. We successfully integrated all captured sensor and image data – including data from traditional sources such as ERP, MES and SCM. FRÄNKISCHE Industrial Pipes’ customers can now use a productive portal that enables simple and time-saving operation.
1 Quality
Increasing the granularity of quality controls and their automation. Linking 8D reports and sensor data.
2 Process optimisation
Data-based automated analysis to optimise rejects, manufacturing capacities and speed.
3 Customer satisfaction
Meeting contractual requirements. Interlocking supply chain. Planability of subsequent manufacturing processes.
4 Regulations
Supply Chain Act, Grade A, process optimisation, EU Data Act, ...
„The project has impressively shown that complete traceability is possible through digital transformation of production processes and connection of factories to the cloud, when a resolution to embrace change meets up with a great team at Fränkische Industrial Pipes."
– Stefan Endroff, Director Digital Transformation
Service at a glance
- Project management for IoT connection and traceability solution
- Design and setup of a scalable cloud solution
- Cloud engineering based on b.telligent’s infrastructure-as-code framework
- Data processing and integration of external systems with the help of b.telligent’s meta-factory
- Development of a web application forming part of the traceability portal
Text taken from the original – b.telligent