An extraordinary routine is daily carried out at the factory, including standard verification tests that, at Pirelli, accompany the production of every tyre and of its semi-finished parts. These tests concern health, safety, environment, quality and efficiency standards. The checklist has always been the designated tool for this activity to be performed in a parameter-based manner that can be shared, and this is crucial in an increasingly complex and connected industrial scene.
But things are changing in Industry 4.0, and the checklist is now digital. “PMS 4.0”, the app named after Pirelli Manufacturing System, which supports and guides each operational routine by transferring all control and reaction activities to a common digital environment, has been implemented at Pirelli factories, renowned for their long-standing experience in switching products and processes to the digital scene.
“PMS 4.0” is a dynamic data container. It can be accessed by operators through mobile devices used in production departments (tablets and smartphones). This app is assigned to all team coordinators, captains and specialist operators, who daily resort to it for the shift handover routine, for HSE standards (safety checklist) and production process quality compliance controls, for workstation compliance controls, to set up schedules and methods, and to ensure people-machine alignment.
Each user accesses the app with his dual function profile as user and problem solver. Hence, he will receive and manage, in real time, alerts instantly generated when the app detects any deviations, thus improving problem detection and resolution. This is also ensured by multimedia contents – voice, images and videos, besides text – which allow an important instant response in terms of communication.
“PMS 4.0” functions on a highly advanced technological platform, and is customised for Pirelli, thus also integrating suggestions provided by operators for ongoing improvements to production. It facilitates rapid sharing of best practices among factories, besides favouring impressive data collection for future benchmarking and data analysis. “PMS 4.0” also relaunches cooperation between factory teams with video-enhanced communications.
Benefits resulting from “PMS 4.0” and from instant access to information are important, and have a positive impact on core industrial indices, such as Waste Reduction (industrial waste is reduced), OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) with a subsequent increase in system efficacy, and Cost Avoidance (cost elimination). So, what costs does “PMS 4.0” avoid? Expenses generated by time and paper consumption.
With the transition of data and of information to the Cloud, the routine for controls and standards becomes smart in the sustainable digital factory. Volumes of information that could not always be used in the past acquire new meaning with the interpretation process applied both by innovative technologies and by the highly competent new generation of “native digital” operators that is developing in Industry 4.0.
