Focus on: Production Efficiency Energy & Environmental Management detect the clear edge and issue instructions to gently guide the material through the machine. The same light curtain is used in carpet manufacturing to detect the two-edge transition on the carpet web. The first transition is air to selvage (the substrate material of the carpet), the second transition is selvage to tufting. Automatically measuring and adjusting these transitions as close to the tufting process as possible greatly reduces any waste that previously occurred in post manufacturing inspections. Pick-to-light to eliminate picking errors and reduce product returns The correct supply of a modular product requiring a specific attachment from hundreds of nearly identical attachments, to fit something that their customer already owns is a challenge. For example, supplying roof bars with the correct fitting for one of thousands of different car models and makes. The chance of picking wrong parts in a continuous steam of orders, each requiring different combinations of parts, is extremely high. Ensuring correct parts are picked from a paper list is a very slow process and still prone to errors. Turck Banner has seen this problem in industries ranging from car accessory manufacturers to fast food outlets. Pick-to-light systems solved the problem in almost all cases. One such system involved installing devices with both a bright indicator and a numeric display on over 400-part locations. When each operator was assigned their own colour all they had to do was see which location was illuminated in their colour, and pick the quantity displayed on the device. After touching the illuminated button to acknowledge that the part(s) had been picked, the system would then illuminate the next location in the order sequence. Unlike the old paper list that would be picked in the order it was printed, the system chooses a pick sequence to minimise the distance that the operator has to move and sequences the heavy or bulky items last. Orders are picked more quickly, with no errors, resulting in far fewer returns. This in turn reduces transport costs and pollution etc. Not printing picking lists saves on paper and printer ink, filing and recycling. These are just four examples where careful investment in the right products can have a significant impact on both short- and long-term savings, at the same time making the product or process more sustainable. Direct
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