Glassmaker's inventory status is crystal clear
Libbey-Owens-Ford plant workers and managers act upon data sent in real time by radio frequency terminals, making better decisions and reducing inventory levels and costs.
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 2/1/1999
Give plant floor workers and their managers more current, more accurate information on inventory levels and work-in-process. Then they'll make better decisions. And when data are delivered to them in real time by wireless mobile computing power, so much the better.That's been the winning business philosophy at several glassmaking plants of Libbey-Owens-Ford (LOF). At sites in the U.S. and Canada, this $1.2 billion company has installed radio frequency data communications (RFDC) in a local area network (LAN) configuration. LOF also has armed its plant floor employees with hand-held computer terminals and bar code scanners so they can send and receive timely data with this RF system.
Together, this system of LAN, terminals, and scanners (Symbol Technologies, 516-563-2400) reports and relays data in real time directly from where the information is developed to when it is needed. With better data, inventories can be cut and production scheduling becomes more accurate, resulting in cost savings for LOF. In fact, the glassmaker's investments in upgrading its information systems have been paid back in less than two years.
Paper tickets stall data transfer
Previously, with manual data entry on paper tickets handed in each workday morning, inventory data reporting was "one, two, or more days behind," says Jeff Hobbs, lead programmer/analyst for LOF. In this paper-intensive environment, LOF was able to keep inventory status data "at summary levels only," he says. It also was hard to control inventory turns.
Accuracy of the data was an issue as well. "Inventory can only be as accurate as the paperwork turned in," adds Hobbs, "and only as accurate as the person entering the data."
But inventory data and performance reports needed to be known sooner with greater accuracy. "We want to know how we're doing in real time and very precisely," explains Hobbs.
Ten years experience with RF
LOF has had a 10-year history with RFDC and bar coding systems, starting with its original wireless LAN system (Symbol's Spectrum One). This older system still keeps management and shop floor personnel current with inventory status at four of LOF's plants making glass for building products.
More recently, LOF has installed a newer RF system (Spectrum24) at two of its plants producing glass for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including auto glass for the automotive industry. This spread spectrum RF technology operates in a client/server Unix environment, sending and receiving data to the hand-held terminals on the plant floor (see photos).
LOF tracks all of its inventory-from the raw materials stage on to production and through to its finished goods warehousing stage-by affixing a ticket with a serial number bar coded on each rack, box, or container that the items are stored in. Scanning these tickets at multiple stages in the production process keeps managers informed on the status of work-in-process and whether shipments of finished glass products will meet customer requirements for on-time deliveries.
Production schedulers, moreover, no longer are delayed in their decision making as they work to schedule and adjust factory output of glass products; there's no waiting 24 hours or more for more accurate or current data.
LOF records all of its glass production as items move off the factories' lines. Items receive a time and date "stamping" via the bar coded tickets which ensures highly accurate tracking. And, should quality control problems arise, the real time system also helps alert managers so that they can seek causes of problems and take swift corrective actions.
When LOF needs to take physical inventories of its products-which it does wall to wall in its plants-and make cycle counts, the RF system speeds up these processes and delivers high accuracy.
The glassmaker's plans to expand usage of this data capture technology is a clear sign of its importance to LOF. "We plan on rolling out this spread spectrum RF system to five more manufacturing plants in the future," says Hobbs.
Training for Star Wars
Implementing the RFDC system at LOF plants requires a commitment by the to effectively train employees in using the technology.
"Training is our biggest area of challenge," says Jeff Hobbs, lead programmer/analyst. "We are training people from all walks of life to move into a Star Wars arena."
Yet the "best part is when someone starts out scared of the technology and ends up liking to use it," he declares.
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