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Barcode Printing Makes Variant Management Possible
Example: The automotive supplier industry – processes are controlled and optimized
A car door is a car door. That is what some people might think until they visit Intier Automotive Eybl GmbH in Wackersdorf, Germany. There, the world of automobiles suddenly looks completely different. The reason being, at Intier Automotive Eybl GmbH, a leading supplier of the automotive industry and subsidiary of the international Magna Company, there are more than 2500 variants of door paneling within one product line. Most amazingly of all, these 2500 variants are produced for only two automobile types – the BMW 3-series coupe and convertible. In order to insure that what belongs together ultimately comes together; labels printed with barcodes are employed. Here is where a second global player enters the game – Avery Dennison, specialist for labeling technology. Using this specific example, Avery Dennison will demonstrate how to steer and control an entire process using labels.
Location: an industrial park, Wackersdorf, Bavaria. According to Stefan Lohner, responsible for IT & Organization at Intier Automotive Eybl GmbH, the door panel of this specific mid-class car consists of three primary components: the frame, the so-called “mirror” with textile or leather covering, and the armrest with appropriate upholstery. A label is present at the very first production step. After the frame is pressed and stamped out, it receives the first Avery Dennison label, printed on a 64-bit thermal transfer printer. The frame is thereby identified with an individual serial number, which determines its progress in coming production steps.
The reason hardly any door resembles another lies in the numerous details such as color, equipment, speaker system, airbags, and right or left-hand steering. Avery Dennison supplies extensive know-how for the process of identification. Avery Dennison’s Printer Systems Europe, the technological leader in thermal transfer printing, services the most diverse industries. It stands as an integral part of a company active in 89 countries with over 20,000 employees.
Things start to get interesting at the Intier when the components – frame, mirror and armrest – are assembled. A hand-held scanner scans the appropriate mirror set. The information contained on the barcode label identifies the end product and determines the resulting production steps. If later combinations, all tagged with Avery labels, are correct, a green light is displayed. At this point, the tools are activated and the assembly can continue. The next step, the mounting of the armrest, follows the same procedure: scanning, green light, assembly.
Even the warehousing of prefabricated parts in a fully automated sequential storage depends on labels. This is how prefabricates are stored according to a barcode system. Each cart, on which several door panels are stored, receives an individual identification number. Simultaneously, the labels on each panel are controlled and marked as “stored” in the computer system. In this way, one always knows which product type is located on which cart, in spite of a hectic storage situation.
Knowing “what it is” and “where to find it” is essential in reacting quickly. This describes the daily routine at Intier. “We no longer deliver just-in-time; we deliver just-in-sequence,” explains Alois Maderer, likewise in IT & Organization. Time is short. For example, when BMW orders a particular part for one of its models only five hours remain from the time the order is received via data telecommunication to delivery at the assembly line. Thus, immediately after the order, carts are driven automatically to shipping. There, a final check is carried out using the barcode system and the order is sorted according to the delivery sequence provided by BMW.
During shipping, labels also play a critical role. At this point, each door panel receives a label, which not only verifies the type and equipment but also contains the corresponding automobile number for shipping, both in barcode and text form. All agree that in the absence of a fully developed printing and labeling technology, none of this would be possible at such a high level. Current trends show that suppliers will no longer deliver merely individual components, but rather entire component groups and systems, for example, an entire automobile interior. In order to steer and organize the resulting complication of internal processes, a fully developed labeling technology is ready and waiting. Avery Dennison and Intier Automotiv have worked together successfully for six years. All total, there are 30 Avery printers in use at the factory in Wackersdorf alone.
For Gerhard Zapf, sales manager at Avery Dennison, the relationship with Intier proves that dedication and commitment pay off. His customer pays him the highest compliment in turn. “The decision on our part to go with Avery Dennison,” says Stephen Lohner “was so abundantly clear because we were absolutely convinced by Gerhard Zapf’s insightful consulting and intensive support.”
Avery Dennison
Printer Systems Europe
Address: Ohmstraße 3
D-85385 Eching, Germany
Tel: 8165/925 0
Fax: 8165/925 100
E-mail:
Website: http://www.machines.averydennison.com
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