Traceability Solution Saves Supplier Millions
Case StudyClient Overview
A global tier one automative supplier that designs, engineers and manufactures innovative products for nearly every vehicle manufacturer worldwide. Annual sales for 2015 was over 7.5 billion with 25,000 employees and 26 facilities worldwide.
Challenge
In the tier one automotive supplier world, it is a common practice to remove a sampling of parts to ensure the assembly, fit and finish of each part is correct. This is know as the “fit and finish test.”
During a routine fit and finish test, the tier on automotive supplier created a small batch of 17-non functional engineering sample airbags and set them aside after testing so they did not enter production.
Inadvertently, the 17 sample airbag units mixed with the production airbags and the supplier unknowingly installed them into 17 instrument panels destined for a final assembly plant. The 17 instrument panels containing the non-functional airbags ultimately became finished vehicles.
Out of the 17 effected vehicles, eight shipped to dealerships and one was in route for delivery to a customer.
For the tier on supplier, it immediately became a top priority to identify the airbags involved, the instrument panels containing the airbags, and the specific vehicles that received the instrument panels.
Solution
In previous years, Pyramid Solutions installed a complete Manufacturing Execution System (MES) solution with a traceability feature at the supplier’s plant. This solutions, IntelliWORKS, captured and housed historical data of each production line, including the line that accidentally installed the sample airbags in the instrument panels.
The IntelliWORKS traceability solution provides reliable, comprehensive, data collection and reporting. The solution enhances compliance with customer requirements and government regulations for critical production components, such as airbags, steering columns, and other safety-critical parts. Traceability dramatically improves pert and product tracking and provides mission-critical linking of component lots or process parameters to assemblies, serial numbers, VIN tags or shipment containers.
IntelliWORKS tracked and recorded each instrument panel that received the airbag. The system scanned and stored each of the bar-code serial numbers on the airbags. The serial number also associated the airbag and panels with a vehicle identification number (VIN) at the time of installation.
Upon discovery of the missing airbag samples, the supplier’s management team quickly reviewed the historical data collected and stored by IntelliWORKS, identified the VINs of each vehicle, and instantly initiated a focused recall operation of only the 17 effected vehicles.
Identifying the effected instrument panels and vehicles was quick and painless because of IntelliWORKS’ capability to instantly retrieve historical data and provide real-time visibility into the process.
Within 48 hours, the supplier located all 17 vehicles and shipped them back.
The supplier was able to act quickly and execute and an extremely efficient containment and recall operation because of IntelliWORKS. The MES saved the company millions of dollars and possibly millions more in liability costs.
Benefits
Meet industry and regulatory requirements
Increased operational efficiency
Easy to Learn/Use
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