Challenge
Saft is a leading battery manufacturer with intellectual capital drawn from 49 countries. The company delivers innovative, safe, and reliable lithium-ion cell batteries that power demanding applications on land, at sea, in the air, and in space. Jill Parisher, Manager of Continuous Improvement and Analytics, brings deep IT and Operations experience to support the factory's digitization and operational excellence efforts.
Saft faced a significant challenge: lacking accurate, timely data to enable root cause analysis in support of continuous improvement efforts. The organization had over 40 dispersed IT systems tracking critical production data alongside an unprecedented amount of paper records. None of these systems were maintained in a sustainable manner, making it difficult to access reliable data for root cause analysis. The fragmented infrastructure created data silos that slowed problem-solving and prevented the team from effectively supporting lean and Six Sigma methodologies.
Solution
Saft implemented a proven way to automate the collection of valuable and trustworthy production data: extending ShopVue beyond the assembly area to the cell production area. The solution extended ShopVue's footprint to automate the process of Component Issuing, Inline Inspections, Statistical Process Control (SPC), and Run Charts.
This comprehensive approach provided several critical capabilities. ShopVue manages real-time recipe and process execution with APIs to external hardware and tools, enabling operators and supervisors to have visibility into trustworthy data for root cause analysis. The system eliminated the need for paper data collection, consolidating data from multiple systems and removing silos. By leveraging ShopVue's extensibility, Saft streamlined their IT infrastructure while getting the most out of 6 Sigma and 8D/A3 methodologies.
Results
- Elimination of paper data collection and reduction of data silos
- Accelerated problem-solving and process improvement initiatives
- Real-time recipe and process execution visibility across cell production
- Good quality, trustworthy data to support root cause analysis
- Streamlined IT infrastructure through consolidated data management
- Enhanced continuous improvement discipline backed by validated data
- Process execution control supporting 80% accuracy targets
- Reduced scrap and rework through inline quality data
The Impact
Key Features Used
- Extended ShopVue footprint from assembly to cell production
- Automated Component Issuing process
- Inline Inspection automation and data capture
- Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Run Charts
- Real-time recipe and process execution management
- API integration to external hardware and tools
- Paper data collection elimination
- Root cause analysis data management
- Six Sigma and 8D/A3 methodology support
- Consolidated IT infrastructure and data consolidation
