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Integrated manufacturing productivity from IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation
Executive summary Business view Technical details
The goal
Drive business performance
Greater manufacturing flexibility and productivity requires better capturing, analysis and delivery of production data for improved execution, efficiency and decision making worldwide. Your manufacturing enterprise needs to increase tracking, control and optimization of operations between factory and enterprise and between enterprise and supply and demand chains. Manufacturers now have an opportunity to move towards more competitive operations with integrated manufacturing from IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation.

The advantage
Leadership times three
IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation bring together major components for business process improvement based on common vision, standards and interoperability.
  • IBM provides business process consulting, systems integration, platforms and middleware.
  • Cisco offers secure networking, wireless and unified communications.
  • Rockwell Automation brings plant floor control and manufacturing execution solutions.

The benefits
Achieve visibility across your enterprise
The combination of three technology leaders offers a comprehensive productivity solution for automakers and manufacturers that includes:

Quality management
  • Rockwell Automation executes error-proofed manufacturing to build order and collects data from devices and plant systems executing manufacturing processes, while IBM integrates that data with enterprise systems and Cisco network securely shares across the enterprise and supply chain.
  • Rockwell Automation internal application security shares through IBM Tivoli® access management and authorization and the data is moved over a Cisco secure network.
  • IBM analytic tools determine which data should be sent back to production and out to the enterprise and supply chain leveraging Cisco secure networking using Ethernet/IP.
  • Logs automatically can be maintained with IBM tools and Cisco network reporting to be able to track who is doing what, when.

Near real-time inventory monitoring
  • Connect inventory data across the enterprise and supply chain.
  • Establish production and finite schedules to meet order requirements and optimized manufacturing.
  • Monitor inventory on the production floor against schedule needs at the order level.
  • Associate incoming supplier materials with final assemblies.
  • Collect “as-built” data from plant systems, share with ERP and communicate with suppliers.
  • Collect data from wireless devices, share across multiple systems and the supply chain.
  • Collaborate with 3rd party logistics providers to meet shipping needs.
  • Communicate with maintenance through IBM Maximo® software in near real-time to avoid plant downtime.

The approach
Opening up a new solution for doors
An automotive OEM supplier for a major automotive company decided to transition from batch production of door panels to in-line vehicle sequencing (ILVS) for a customer. In addition to the production change, the supplier was required to produce over 70 variations of panels, adding to its already complex production responsibilities.

After an implementation of a Rockwell Automation software solution, the company can now measure information from work cells on the production line. More specifically, they gather critical information on the three components of OEE: machine availability, throughput and quality. To determine OEE, the percent of availability, throughput and quality are multiplied. The company measures:
  • Uptime and downtime
  • Production and scrap counts
  • Production rates vs. ideal rates
  • Cycle times, time-in-state
  • Shift information
  • Fault events, vision system stops
  • Operator information

The financial advantage
Repeatable and flexible to save you money
IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation offer an overall solution framework that helps you recoup a quicker return on investment.
  • The solution components are based on common vision, standards and interoperability.
  • Quality problems can often be diagnosed and resolved more quickly, with less materials waste.
  • Timely communications can help suppliers produce and deliver the right inventory when and where it is needed, eliminating out-of-stock incidents that impact factory throughput.
  • Components are loosely coupled, offering flexible configurations that support your needs.
  • This established three-way partnership also implements a repeatable, scalable standards-based solution that can be easily replicated from plant to plant.

Next steps
 
Questions about this solution? Contact an IBM-Cisco specialist.