Overview

Neutrik – Faster, more precise, simpler: top MES creates the connection

Neutrik AG is the best judge of the value of digital transparency in production and maintenance. The globally successful manufacturer of electrical connection systems has said goodbye to paper forms and Excel spreadsheets. Instead, operating and machine data acquisition via top MES is now used.

Anyone who works with professional music equipment, television technology or light and sound in theaters has them in their hands every day: electrical connectors from Neutrik AG. Products from the Principality of Liechtenstein are used wherever audio, video and data transmission at the highest level is required. Many of their own developments have long been considered the standard in stage and studio technology.

Neutrik uses various processes in the production of its extensive portfolio: from the mechanical production of simple plug connections to automated assembly and the elaborate manual assembly of particularly complex products. A steady hand and a great deal of skill are required in the fiber optics sector, for example, when assembling, measuring and testing sensitive fiber optic products.

Paperwork in production and maintenance

In automated assembly in rotary transfer systems, production runs through seven, ten or more sequential work steps: Conveyor pots deliver the individual parts and components, and the systems are then used to align contacts, press-fit components, weld them, assemble them and finally test them. One employee usually operates several machines at the same time.

In the past, employees from all production areas recorded all production data on a production paper. Once a week, foremen transferred the handwritten information on processes, times and quantities to an Excel spreadsheet for documentation and evaluation. From there, they were finally imported into SAP ERP (SAP R/3).

The procedure for maintenance and servicing was even more reduced. Repairs and other measures remained largely undocumented, with employees only recording their hours in Excel lists. The planning of measures as well as outstanding repairs and their degree of completion were also handled exclusively in Excel, as the corresponding function was not activated in the SAP system.

Insights only with a time lag

The rudimentary IT support and the lack of process automation led to time-consuming maintenance of the various Excel lists. “And yet we lacked transparency regarding the maintenance and repair work carried out,” says Eva Diezemann, Project Manager at Neutrik, summing up the difficulties. “At times, we lacked an overview of the actual status of our maintenance activities and requirements.”

The lack of digital consistency was even more noticeable in production. Recording the operating data by hand and only transferring it to Excel days later took up a lot of working time week after week. In addition, the media and system breaks caused avoidable transmission errors and the time lag prevented acute control options.

SAP S/4HANA as the digital center

Eva Diezemann: “We were of course aware of the problem and supported the company-wide Fit4Future digitalization project from the very beginning. Both our production data acquisition and our maintenance and servicing should benefit from digital, standardized processes. We wanted more meaningful data on the situation on the store floor and more transparency overall.”

The core element of Neutrik’s digitalization plans was the switch to SAP S/4HANA. All measures for production data acquisition and maintenance were to be seamlessly integrated into the system. In the area of maintenance, the SAP maintenance module (SAP PM) was the obvious choice. And for production data acquisition, a modern manufacturing execution system (MES) was sought that delivers key figures in real time and includes machine data acquisition.

“We soon came across top flow as a potential partner and were given the opportunity to pay a highly convincing visit to a reference customer. There we experienced top MES in action, the intuitive user interface for production employees, the consistency of the solution and the rapid evaluation of information. Ultimately, however, it was the competent and professional advice from top flow that convinced us,” says project manager Eva Diezemann.

Big change – big success

In order to prepare for the introduction of top MES and SAP PM, a concept with to-be processes was created, including a master data and authorization system. Eva Diezemann sees the close coordination between consultants, project management and the specialist departments as a key success factor: “Our employees from production, maintenance, IT and others were involved right from the start, developed their own proposals, tested them early on and also managed sub-projects.” This ensured, for example, that the dialogs of the mobile devices were perfectly suited to the respective application situation.

As the implementation of SAP S/4HANA and top MES took place almost simultaneously, the change was significant at all levels. However, the project team carried out the MES rollout department by department and approached each subsequent step with solid experience. In addition, the convenient recording of order data such as start and end times, quantities or working times and order allocation quickly proved successful: “The employees responded very positively to the user guidance on the touchscreens – and the end of handwritten paperwork. We were soon able to evaluate the first data, which immediately provided us with valuable insights,” says Eva Diezemann.

In automated assembly, the machine connection was implemented on the basis of top MES. As a result, Neutrik now records all relevant machine data, including good and reject quantities, production times, downtimes and malfunctions. These are transmitted to the SAP system in real time via OPC servers and enable targeted evaluations of key production figures. Eva Diezemann: “We now have similar options in manual assembly: Our employees use the dialogs on the terminals and mobile devices to provide feedback on production recording and quality management.”

Three clicks instead of many hours

The dialogs from top flow are also used for maintenance and repair with SAP PM. Times recorded by employees are linked to the respective repair orders and automatically assigned to the correct cost center in SAP. Neutrik also documents the repairs in a structured and detailed manner and can evaluate and track them in SAP. And it is also possible to call up automatically generated maintenance orders directly on the mobile device via the dialog – including attached documents.

For Neutrik, it is clear that the introduction of top MES was the right step at the right time. Today, they benefit from profound transparency with real-time data that enables immediate reactions and control via KPIs. Eva Diezemann is impressed by the acceleration in many areas:

“With just three clicks, the report and the order are created in SAP and time recording for this order is started. And when a final confirmation is made, the correct reporting scheme is automatically drawn. In the main plant alone, this saves us 2,800 working hours a year that were previously spent on Excel transfers and manual evaluation.”

Neutrik top MES Success Story



Share:

Facebook

XING

LinkedIn

---

Overview