Executive summary
The goal - Collaborate for competitive advantage
External customer and market demands are forcing change in manufacturing. The emphasis on improving quality is as strong as the need to reduce waste. Bottom lines are threatened by issues such as rising inventory carrying costs and increased warranty costs. Globalization—via development of a worldwide manufacturing footprint and global sourcing capability—will challenge even the most sophisticated and well-financed companies.
The advantage - Get the right vehicle to the right place faster
The integrated manufacturing productivity solution is founded on strategic alignment around open, industry standards, collaboration and leadership. The solution is comprised of four components.
- Business consulting and systems integration—IBM delivers its leading automotive supply chain business consulting and solution integration service to facilitate the business process transformation, start-to-finish.
- Improved visibility of real-time production data and information—Rockwell Automation's information enabled Integrated Architecture™ and connected with FactoryTalk® production management and performance software begins this process by dramatically simplifying real-time control and data collection from the production floor.
- Unified Communications Capabilities—with joint Cisco and IBM Unified Communications solutions, manufacturers can leverage a standard Ethernet framework to introduce and integrate conferencing, video, messaging and phone displays with applications to facilitate collaboration at every link in the manufacturing process.
- Factory-to-enterprise-to-supply chain security: Rockwell Automation software securely manages the data inside the applications and links production assets with the enterprise network.
The benefits - Transform quality and inventory management
The integrated manufacturing productivity solution from IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation can help your manufacturing enterprise:
- Identify business process and information flows that have greatest impact on productivity.
- Capture and execute near real-time production information from the factory floor.
- Deliver the information to shop floor systems.
- Production and performance management of plant-wide information systems.
- Integrate the production information and business processes between manufacturing and enterprise/supply chain applications.
- Share information with a large numbers of partners.
- Ensure security throughout the process.
Business view
The goal - Drive business performance
Greater manufacturing flexibility and productivity requires better capturing, analysis and delivery of production data for improved execution, efficiency and decision making worldwide. Your manufacturing enterprise needs to increase tracking, control and optimization of operations between factory and enterprise and between enterprise and supply and demand chains. Manufacturers now have an opportunity to move towards more competitive operations with integrated manufacturing from IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation.
The advantage - Leadership times three
IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation bring together major components for business process improvement based on common vision, standards and interoperability.
- IBM provides business process consulting, systems integration, platforms and middleware.
- Cisco offers secure networking, wireless and unified communications.
- Rockwell Automation brings plant floor control and manufacturing execution solutions.
The benefits - Achieve visibility across your enterprise
The combination of three technology leaders offers a comprehensive productivity solution for automakers and manufacturers that includes:
Quality management
- Rockwell Automation executes error-proofed manufacturing to build order and collects data from devices and plant systems executing manufacturing processes, while IBM integrates that data with enterprise systems and Cisco network securely shares across the enterprise and supply chain.
- Rockwell Automation internal application security shares through IBM Tivoli® access management and authorization and the data is moved over a Cisco secure network.
- IBM analytic tools determine which data should be sent back to production and out to the enterprise and supply chain leveraging Cisco secure networking using Ethernet/IP.
- Logs automatically can be maintained with IBM tools and Cisco network reporting to be able to track who is doing what, when.
Near real-time inventory monitoring
- Connect inventory data across the enterprise and supply chain.
- Establish production and finite schedules to meet order requirements and optimized manufacturing.
- Monitor inventory on the production floor against schedule needs at the order level.
- Associate incoming supplier materials with final assemblies.
- Collect "as-built" data from plant systems, share with ERP and communicate with suppliers.
- Collect data from wireless devices, share across multiple systems and the supply chain.
- Collaborate with 3rd party logistics providers to meet shipping needs.
- Communicate with maintenance through IBM Maximo® software in near real-time to avoid plant downtime.
The approach - Opening up a new solution for doors
An automotive OEM supplier for a major automotive company decided to transition from batch production of door panels to in-line vehicle sequencing (ILVS) for a customer. In addition to the production change, the supplier was required to produce over 70 variations of panels, adding to its already complex production responsibilities.
After an implementation of a Rockwell Automation software solution, the company can now measure information from work cells on the production line. More specifically, they gather critical information on the three components of OEE: machine availability, throughput and quality. To determine OEE, the percent of availability, throughput and quality are multiplied. The company measures:
- Uptime and downtime
- Production and scrap counts
- Production rates vs. ideal rates
- Cycle times, time-in-state
- Shift information
- Fault events, vision system stops
- Operator information
The financial advantage - Repeatable and flexible to save you money
IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation offer an overall solution framework that helps you recoup a quicker return on investment.
- The solution components are based on common vision, standards and interoperability.
- Quality problems can often be diagnosed and resolved more quickly, with less materials waste.
- Timely communications can help suppliers produce and deliver the right inventory when and where it is needed, eliminating out-of-stock incidents that impact factory throughput.
- Components are loosely coupled, offering flexible configurations that support your needs.
- This established three-way partnership also implements a repeatable, scalable standards-based solution that can be easily replicated from plant to plant.
Technical details
The issues - Close the performance gap
Lack of visibility into supplier inventory leads to stock-outs, late and expedited shipments and quality issues. Supply chain delays lengthen the cash-to-cash cycle. And an inability to receive timely, accurate demand signals leads to excess or obsolete inventory and poor customer satisfaction. Until advanced planning solutions are integrated with the shop floor, there will be a performance gap.
The benchmark - Deep knowledge and proven solutions
The partnership of IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation is designed to provide you and your suppliers with the transparent, integrated manufacturing productivity solution you need to share near real-time information, from the plant to the enterprise and throughout the global supply chain, to significantly improve inventory and quality management.
- IBM offers leadership in driving automotive standards within Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi), Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association (JAMA) and others around the globe.
- Cisco customers include over 90 percent of the largest OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.
- Rockwell Automation's global capabilities extend across 80 countries and include a partner network of more than 5,600 regional and global specialists in distribution, system integration and product referencing.
The components - Conquer the obstacles to manufacturing productivity
The integrated manufacturing productivity solution provides components from three leaders in manufacturing optimization. Each provides leading-edge products and services to help boost your productivity from plant to floor and across your enterprise.
- IBM hardware products can include IBM System x™ servers—help reduce costs and complexity and improve productivity with an infrastructure that supports a successful warranty management strategy.
- IBM software components can include:
- IBM WebSphere® Process Server
- WebSphere Partner Gateway
- WebSphere Application Server
- IBM Tivoli® Identity Manager and Tivoli Access Manager
- Tivoli Security Compliance Manager and Tivoli Provisioning Manager
- IBM Global Business Services consulting services can include:
- Business strategy consulting
- Transformation planning
- Best practices methodology and technology strategy
- IBM Global Technology Services IT consulting can include integrated communications services.
- Cisco products can include:
- Cisco security products, including network admission control, VPNs, firewalls, etc.
- Cisco routing and switching infrastructure (for example, Cisco Integrated Services Routers, Cisco Catalyst® switching)
- Cisco wireless LAN products
- Cisco Unified Communications products
- Rockwell Automation products can include:
- FactoryTalk Integrated Production and Performance application suite
- Manufacturing assessment optimization and consulting/engineering services
- Logix Integrated Information Architecture Automation solutions
The implementation - IBM and Cisco enhance productivity from communication
The Toyota Technical Center Asia Pacific (Thailand) Company Limited (TTC-AP) aims to provide design, research and development (R&D) services, as well as produce prototype spare parts. TTC-AP decided to invest in a converged solution that would enable it to handle voice communications over a single network infrastructure. By moving from their previous solution to IP telephony, the organization would also benefit from a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) of their network infrastructure in long run.
The blending of Cisco's voice, video and rich-media conference solutions with IBM's expertise in global services offer customers a convenient and cost-effective way to reap the benefits of convergence. "The Cisco and IBM IP telephony solution has enabled us to fully exploit network convergence and benefit from a range of efficient communications. Most importantly, the technology helps us achieve our objective of improving communication between our facilities in Thailand and Japan to facilitate the design of quality auto parts," said Mr. Somsak Nantatovatana, Vice President, Administrative Department, TTC-AP.
The cost of ownership - Collaboration to reduce total cost of ownership
As IBM, Cisco and Rockwell Automation work together, you can realize a lower total cost of ownership in your manufacturing enterprise.
- Near seamless integration of components and applications—hardware and software integrated into a common framework for repeatability to help lower costs of development, deployment and maintenance.
- Easier to deploy, use and maintain—off-the-shelf components that help promote adaptation to address speed-to-market at lower cost with higher quality.
- Reduced risk to deploy—proven technology and applications used, applicable globally for training, deployment, etc.
