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Rexam mines for data

The May issue of Automation World, Packaging World's sister publication, has a story by AW editor Gary Mintchell on how Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are useful tools when it comes to Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma implementations. A portion of that story describes beverage can manufacturer Rexam's implementation of a plant-floor data acquisition system.

Dave Wilke, Master Black Belt in Six Sigma, is manufacturing systems manager at Chicago-based Rexam PLC. Rexam is a manufacturer of beverage cans. Wilke got the job of implementing Six Sigma and quickly realized the need for manufacturing data to improve performance. He used a real-time shop floor reporting system from Accumence, a Chicago supplier of performance management solutions. He also tapped into the maintenance database housed in the company's enterprise application from SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany, and systems from quality.

"We had a pretty good feel for the quality of the information and wound up with more than enough data to force improvements," says Wilke. "Data input into the system was pretty much automated, mostly from the programmable logic controllers, sensors, in fact, all the infrastructure. We also studied where sensors were needed and what we needed to measure, and solicited input from the process engineers. Setting up the system took a lot of work from operations and IT (information technology) groups. We now can see and utilize data. Since the database is housed on corporate servers, everyone can see and utilize as needed. We have 15 can plants and all use the same type of systems. We can benchmark based on plant configurations and conditions and isolate which one performed. We look at the performance conditions and apply elsewhere.

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