Material Flow Management
Optimization and Automation of Material Flow Opens up Competitive Advantages
Our high-precision and intelligently networked solutions for material flow management are a cornerstone for the smart factory of tomorrow.
Faster lead times, optimal material & equipment utilization, warehouseing costs and increased productivity are not only classic promises of Industry 4.0, but can be realized today.
Eliminate Bottlenecks with Automated Material Replenishment
Are you looking for transparency and control over your material use? KINEXON’s Location-based Process Automation solutions enable efficient material replenishment – just when the time is right.
Why You Should Invest in KINEXON
There Is No Way Around Lean Production
Insufficient transparency of the material flow on the shop floor is no longer sufficient in a smart factory. The central objective in intralogistics and shop floor management is lean production.
The aim is to achieve complete transparency of the material flow between storage, production, assembly and dispatch sites using a wide variety of means in order to make it as intelligent and “just-in-time” as possible. But as soon as materials are transported and temporarily stored, the chain of seamless material flow tracking suddenly breaks off.
Difficulties in Reacting During Material Transport
Without precise real-time tracking of materials and conveyor vehicles, there is a lack of transparency about the location, the remaining transport time and the exact transport route.
This is reflected in limited responsiveness for the avoidance of production downtime, reduced staff productivity, increased transportation time and inefficient utilization of conveyor vehicles such as forklifts, tugger trains or AGVs.
High Scanning and Search Efforts for Intermediate Storage
If there is no continuous tracking of the material flow on the shop floor, precisely determining the storage location will involve significant effort and increased susceptibility to errors and ultimately cannot be completely guaranteed.
This means that at no time can reliable statements be made about the position and duration of a material as well as the complete storage content and quantity in an interim storage facility. The consequences are high scanning and search efforts, inconsistent implementation of e.g. FiFo and LiFo processes, delays in production as well as increased material and warehousing costs.
Here You Will Find the Perfect Material Flow Management Solution
The high-precision sensor network technology, in combination with the location-based process automation software KINEXON OS, creates complete transparency in real time about the material flow on the shop floor, automates the information flow between systems (e.g. MES) and informs all participants about upcoming events before it is too late. This lays the foundation stone for a smart factory and transforms your company in the direction of Industry 4.0.
Continuous Tracking of Load Carriers
Load carriers equipped with sensors such as floor rollers, pallet chassis or spring floor trolleys provide continuous and real-time information about the current position and the loaded materials, thus paving the way for lean production.
Typical application scenarios: optimization of warehouse management between production steps, efficient and transparent tugger train control, optimization of empty runs of means of transport.
Tracking of Production Products Creates Process Reliability
In addition to load carriers, production output and parts can also be equipped directly with a sensor. This allows all movements, duration of stay, stations and, of course, positions of a product or component to be tracked and analyzed precisely and in real time.
Typical application scenarios: monitoring all actions of e.g. particularly important or valuable production output and components along the value chain to ensure the highest quality and adherence to delivery dates.
Exploit Value Creation Potential Through Seamless Material Flow
Shorter Lead Time
The complete transparency of positions, movements, waiting and storage times of material flow on the shop floor enables you to react to discrepancies in real time. Transport routes and warehouse management can also be intelligently optimized.
Production delays and downtimes due to material bottlenecks are significantly reduced, thus reducing lead times.
Increased Productivity
If you locate materials, load carriers and conveyor vehicles (e.g. forklifts, tugger trains, AGVs) in real time, you can abolish scanning and search activities and budget the resources gained for value-adding activities.
What’s more, you increase the productivity and utilization of your means of transport through shorter waiting times, fewer empty runs and optimized transport routes.
Lower Operating Costs
Intelligent material flow management also helps your employees to pick up the material for the next production step precisely and in the right order. Costs for loss and premature wear of material or unnecessary storage space are reduced to a minimum.
In addition, improved utilization of conveyor vehicles enables lower investment and maintenance costs.
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