Case study : a paperless resolution to a traceability issue in a Telecom fiber plant

The project involves three parties, DXC-Technology, a consulting company, the Prysmian Group that it is the customer and a third party HCL, which is in charge of the software development. DXC Technology is a B2B Multinational Corporation specialized in delivering end-to-end information technology services and digital transformative solutions for large and mid-scale global organizations and it has the role of consulting and implementation of the solution. The customer is Prysmian Group, an Italian multinational corporation headquartered in Milan that manufactures electric power transmission and telecommunications cables and systems. It is the largest manufacturer of cables in the world measured by revenues. The team has followed a well-known structured problem solving and continuous improvement approach which is A3 model that supports the process of PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act). The Planning phase started by the problem background statement, then the current situation identification and the setting of the customer required target. In order to better understand the problem, the team has identified a root cause analysis thanks to the Ishikawa diagram in order to understand better the problem. For the Do phase, the team has implemented the countermeasures that are suggested in the planning phase assigning each one to responsible parties with an execution date, taking into account each available capability. Check phase involves a development of a certain number of KPIs to monitor the achieved result and supports a continuous improvement process. After developing a part of the solution on a pilot with a good result, the plan is to standardize the full solution across customer different plants as part of Act phase. The main problem of Prysmian Group is the lack in traceability of Raw Material and batches used for a specific product and of the operator time (in which activity they are spending their time). Therefore, Non-Conformities founded, and Maintenance activities are reported on papers or not reported completely then stored in a physical archive. This leads to lose the possibility to do a complete root cause analysis because the information is missing partially, and the other part is stored in a confuse and not immediate way that made almost impossible to acquire the information related to a certain product. The consequence is that, when a customer complaints, there is not possibility of finding the root cause analysis due to lack of traceability. The production plant of Slatina is a one-cycle plant, the production provides a 24/7 service. It is composed by almost 50 lines and in the production lines there is a computer workstation every two lines, while in the quality station there is one computer at each. The manufacturing process mainly consists of a manual extrusion flow with multi-steps operations. In the production the operators have the support of the computer workstation that is placed in the lines. From these computer workstation points, the worker needs to print the production actions required in order to be able to work on the order assigned by the Supervisor. In the plant, for a normal day of production, there are almost 4.500 papers printed, 112 between paper and label per product approximately. All the information about the scheduling and production specifications is sent by SAP. The problem rises during the production as the operators reports on which product are working, what it has been done, on a paper sheets and their activities are not actually tracked. Non-Conformities and Maintenance problems can occur and the way to take corrective actions is by a vocal communication between the Supervisor and the operator. Added to that, part of the related information to those activates is reported on papers or stored in a local server and part is not. The Logistic process is not fully tracked neither. The only support of the operator is a paper list of materials needed and as he is alone in charge of this operation, therefore, the operator does not declare which batch is selected and for which product is used. In conclusion, by looking to a production order, it is not possible to find out which batch of Raw Material has been used and on which machine has been worked during the process. While by searching in the physical archive, it is possible to find if there was Non-Conformity but unfortunately the taken actions to solve it are not always stored. It is difficult for the company to take real time corrective actions on the production process, as the information about machines, product, and materials is not integrated. After analysing the current situation, the team has set with the company the target of having a full traceability by applying a paperless solution. The migration to a paperless tracking system should reach the 98% according to the percentage that has been established of mandatory and possible printings. The first objective of the project is to achieve 100% tracking of all information related to a production order and to ensure the complete availability of the data regarding the production processes. The second objective of the project and a consequent target is a decrement of 98% in paper utilization. It is mandatory because of the first target, due to the fact that the traceability can’t be guaranteed by a paper-based method. Thus, the paperless solution is a high priority target to insure full traceability across system function integration. In order to analyse the lack of traceability causes, the team has used the Ishikawa diagram (Fishbone) to find the root causes. In order to apply it, the team had to study in deep the physical production and its related processes. The analysis has underlined findings as following: • The paper-based method that includes the procedure of filling the production forms manually, which involves the Non-Conformities forms as well, does not support production and Non-Conformities activities tracking. • Corrective actions are transmitted by a vocal communication between the Supervisor and the operator in case of Non-Conformity, which made impossible tracking the corrective actions. • The management of the Raw Material and batches does not support the full traceability. • The machines related information about the production orders performed is not available in a real time and it is not integrated with the system. After identifying the main causes, the team has understood that there is a need of a MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) able to track the transformation of the Raw Materials into finished goods: starting from the production order sent by SAP, ending by the customer’s order delivery and after sales support. The MES will allow managing and controlling the Processes at shop floor and machines level in order to have the full control and traceability of each factor in the production process. Prysmian Group, before contracting DXC-Technology, had already launched the FastTrack project with the aim to develop a full customized MES thanks to the partnership of Dassault Systems. Apriso platform software of Dassault will lead Prysmian Group to reach the 100% of traceability by the application of a paperless solution. The team has been focused in analysing all functionality of the platform in order to demonstrate that the solution addresses all the problems underlined in the AS-IS situation. The team has taken part also to the definition and consequent development of the device supporting the operator activities. The methodology used to assure the full customization for the Slatina plant was by the analysis going back and forward between the overall production related processes and the platform functional analysis. Consequently, it has been defined the functions that should be used in the desktop and the one in the Mobile application: the operators will be provided with the device while the role of the Supervisor (Production, Quality, Maintenance) will be managed by the desktop due to the complexity of the activities. The possibility to print will be given only to the Supervisor as the operator should be able to visualize what is needed on the screen. An important step was the identification of the functional flow of the Mobile application and the designing of the screens in order to have the best interface that helps the operators to a better, ease usage, time saving experience. Looking at the rough solution of Calais production plant, the target of paperless was not reached. In order to address it, it was of high importance the development of the Mobile application. Some KPIs have been developed in order to monitor the results. • Number of Papers printed per product: Printings per product=( n° report papers +n° labels ) In the current situation, during the entire production process, the operators print approximately 112 papers between reports and labels per product. The target is to print only the essential: the mandatory final certification, the final quality check and the Non-Conformity report if necessary. • Number of operator’s clicks per activity: to go in deep in Mobile application details and to asses in which activity the operator spends more time, the number of operator’s clicks per activity is required to improve the functional flow. • Number of wrong feedback screens per operator: in case of performing a wrong action, the system gives a wrong feedback screen. Therefore, it is important to calculate the number of wrong feedback screens per operator to enhance the operators training program and help the system to update their skills and capabilities. It is important not to underestimate the training of the workforce in this project; it is planned during two months before go-alive phase. The team is confident that, regarding paperless solution, the integration of a high-level workforce training and a continuous improvement of the Mobile application interface it will support the continuous cost reduction for the activities and material used. After applying the solution across all Prysmian plant, many capabilities and opportunities to collaborate will be added, especially in term of reducing the risk related to the market demand fluctuation. In addition, Prysmian will have the possibility to remote control and better adaptation to environmental changes. The most success factor for the company will be the possibility to have real time information needed for a specific product/line/operation/operator and in addition the Raw Material and Fiber consumed, Non-Conformities occurred and how they were solved. In addition, Prysmian Group thanks to the full data availability will be able to improve the processes by addressing faster the causes of failures or Non-Conformities. An important opportunity of having a full traceability is that it is possible to identify quickly where the source of the problems is and solve it as soon as they rise taking the most suitable decision thanks to the support of the platform. Prysmian Group managed to define a core model for Telecom cables that will be possible to apply it in all similar production plants. The result of FastTrack project will be a creation of a modular Kernel structure that will be possible to adapt plant by plant, fitting the gaps not only in Telecoms cables plants but almost in all Prysmian’s production plants.

Il seguente documento descrive il progetto svolto a partire da Ottobre 2018 fino ad Aprile 2019. L’azienda di consulting DXC Technology ha coinvolto gli studenti nello sviluppo di un chiaro metodo d’azione per raggiungere gli obiettivi del cliente, Prysmian Group. Prysmian Group, leader nel settore dei sistemi in cavo per energia e telecomunicazioni, per continuare a primeggiare sul mercato internazionale, ha deciso di entrare nell’era dell’Industry 4.0. Il report si sviluppa seguendo l’approccio del “modello A3” che parte dall’identificazione del problema, analizza la situazione inziale e giunge a definire un target e le relative azioni per raggiungerlo. Nello specifico ci si è focalizzati sull’analisi dell’impianto produttivo di Slatina, Romania, il più grande in Europa per quanto riguarda la produzione di sistemi in cavo per telecomunicazioni. L’analisi della situazione iniziale di Prysmian Group ha evidenziato innanzitutto la mancanza di tracciabilità delle operazioni e dei materiali impiegati negli impianti produttivi. Le informazioni riguardanti il prodotto vengono registrate su carta e solo parzialmente. Ciò implica la difficoltà a reperire le informazioni e l’impossibilità di avere visibilità immediata sulle performance dell’impianto. È stato definito quindi, come principale target, il raggiungimento della totale tracciabilità delle informazioni dell’impianto e la successiva abolizione del metodo di lavoro basato su carta. Il secondo target è conseguente al primo visto che il cartaceo non può essere ritenuto un sistema affidabile né moderno per quanto riguarda la raccolta e l’analisi dei dati che invece è garantita da un Manufacturing Execution System in grado di controllare i processi e le performance dei macchinari nell’impianto. Prysmian Group aveva già identificato nel prodotto Apriso di Dassault Systèmes, il MES in grado di raggiungere l’obbiettivo della tracciabilità. Ci si è focalizzati in un primo momento nell’analizzare il modo in cui la piattaforma Apriso supportasse tutti i processi produttivi e le necessità degli operai e successivamente nello sviluppo e definizione dei flussi di un’applicazione Mobile che eliminasse il metodo cartaceo e permettesse agli operatori di svolgere meno attività senza valore aggiunto. L’introduzione di questi cambiamenti contribuirà ad aumentare la produttività degli impianti, grazie alla visibilità in tempo reale di tutte le operations e all’uso più efficiente delle risorse, e ad accrescere anche la reputazione dell’azienda agli occhi degli Stakeholders.