Reliable production control increases efficiency, lowers waste

The production environments in modern flat glass companies are highly integrated, net­worked systems consisting of machinery and complex IT systems. Only if the overall system forms an intrinsic whole can the individual elements reach their maximum efficiency. This knowledge is the main reason for the success of innovative glass producers and processors.

Optimized production processes and excellent product quality, remain as the most important goals to obtain for those who want to stay ahead of their competitors. To achieve this, a modern flat glass processing com­pany needs an efficient production control within an intelligently networked production environment, such as ALCIM Networked Production by Albat+Wirsam, Kirkland, Wash.

From data import at order entry up to packing and shipment of products, ALCIM Networked Production organizes all production processes, accurately and efficiently. The networked produc­tion renders your business more efficient, omitting unnecessary paperwork, and re­duces the damage-prone manual sorting of valuable products to an absolute minimum. Take IG produc­tion, for example.

DynOpt and RackOpt: the perfect couple
All around the world, more and more expensive high-tech glass and asymmetri­cal structures are being produced; IG producers need optimum yield and flexible optimizations; as well as excel­lent machinery clock rates to fetch adequate prices.

The cutting control system DynOpt is the first to achieve, automatically, any required sequence with a yield that is higher than all alternative cutting and sorting systems. DynOpt controls state-of-the-art sorting systems like Hegla SortJet, or Bystronic first ‘sort.

“Raw material consumption has gone down by more than 4 percent to 5 percent for all glass types since the implementation of the DynOpt system” says Harald Biel, production manager of DynOpt user Wolff+Meier, Germany. “For common glass types there are no residue plates at all. At times, the glass stream is uninterrupted for 1 to 2 weeks. Even breakage handling and express optimizations--no increase of waste there!--have improved dramatically and are no longer an organizational challenge.”

DynOpt considerably increases the yield, reduces the amount of residue plates and can boast higher customer satisfaction due to excellent reliability regarding deliveries. Plus there is no dam­age due to manual sorting of lites.

Moreover, the customer can produce any required sequence, with consistently low waste and yield. This advan­tage is most effective in connection with the uncompromising use of packing optimization that helps to exploit all the possibilities of the SortJet and thus the saving potential. Most of the sheets can be loaded onto transport racks right at the end of the line–thanks to Albat+Wirsam’s packing optimi­zation RackOpt that creates the right packing sequence already during the cutting process.

A monitor at the end of the line shows a 3D view of the transport rack to be loaded, with exact loading instructions for every sheet. The advantages of RackOpt: no sorting in the shipping area, less scratched sheets, less delayed and incomplete shipments. Additionally, every transport rack is loaded optimally, which uses the transport capacities to the best effect; reduced labor costs in the shipping area–no more searching and repacking–are other advantages of this modern solution.

The customers also value the fact that, thanks to the intelligent production control, they receive the sheets in just the sequence they require for glazing.

In the course of networked operation, the data of all sheets is constantly transferred to a central pro­duction database and is always up-to-date. This way, information on the whereabouts and process­ing status of each individual sheet can be reported to the order processing system.

Lost sheets, de­layed or incomplete shipments are no longer a problem, customer’s inquiries can be handled with ease. Information such as "Your sheets have been produced and loaded onto the truck” is instantly available.