PILOT : GF ZERO DEFECT SMART FACTORY

+GF+ machine tool optimum production factory 4.0 GF aims to create, digitise and standardize manufacturing related data across its value chain and beyond, to customers, and extract and process, through artificial intelligence, in a common data space, the relevant information so to make it available to a smart production planning system targeting optimised, zero-defect manufacturing of milling spindles at a new GF factory in Switzerland.

The main objectives and benefits of the GF pilot are:

• Optimisation of production planning based on predictive models for manufacturing assets, quality controls and supply requirement through the development of Machine Product and Part digital twins: Assembled products are traceable and virtualised in the common core space which is associated with the information describing their manufacturing history, including the dimensional measurements, and the performances of manufacturing processes made by each machine, from the component production at GF operations until the stage where the device operates at the customer factory, in order to predict and anticipate failures, parts defects and provide feedback to assembly and engineering planning.

• Improve machine assembly lead time and quality towards zero-defect, with cost optimization through the development of a Digital supply chain and smart assembly:  Implement real time traceability of critical supplies and digitalisation of assembly process information, integrated into an agile planning system with common databases and standards, for real time assessment of operations and just-in-time management of supplies in coordination with suppliers through digital, cloud-based ERP bridges.

• Zero defect control through Digital, cognitive lean manufacturing: Develop and demonstrate a decentralised cognitive management system for zero defect manufacturing,  providing access to information across the value chain and beyond through a common data space which will be available to every stage of operations and to GF and customer management through seamless dashboards. Cognitive systems are spread through planning, execution, traceability and monitoring applications which operate in coordination.

The main KPIs of the pilot are:

• Reduction of rate of spindles rework from 10% to 0-5%
• Reduction of rate of spindle return  to factory from 3-13% to 0-3%
• 10% increase of the factory and machine overall equipment effectiveness
• Increase of time before maintenance of spindles from 5’000-10’000 hours to 20’000-50’000 hours