What challenges needed to be solved and what concrete benefits emerged?
The machining industry is highly developed and uses state-of-the-art technologies. The use of complex machines and tools together ensures that components are processed reliably within narrow tolerance limits. As modern as the processing may be, the data management is often outdated. Working with print-outs, handwritten notes and Excel files is still quite common. A lot of time is spent inputting, sending, converting and searching for data. This has an impact on the efficiency of the entire value chain.
With c-Com, the right data can be accessed by all authorised parties at any time and from any location. Applied technical solutions can be compared within the company, such as tools and machining parameters for identical workpieces that are manufactured at different locations, thus supporting standardisation and benchmarking strategies. Stock levels and procurement strategies can be harmonised and optimised while achieving significant cost reductions. The interaction between purchasing and production, and between purchasing and suppliers, is greatly simplified. The number of e-mails for transfering currently used data is drastically reduced. At the same time, a structured communication process and document exchange is made possible.
"At first, we planned a life cycle management of individual parts in production. Together with our partners we realised that c-Com could also play an important role in the digitalisation of the whole value creation chain." Giari Fiorucci, Managing Director of c-Com GmbH
How to describe the Industry 4.0 solution?
With the help of the software manufacturer SAP, a completely new solution based on the SAP Cloud Platform for the efficient handling of tools and tool-related data was developed.
All users along the supply chain (manufacturing, purchasing, logistics etc.) are networked - in line with Industry 4.0 - and can work in real time with the tool data relevant to them and with reference to individual components and applications. Consistent data flow free of media disruptions is ensured. There exists a sort of superordinate, collaborative technology database.
With its connections to diverse components and applications, c-Com differs from all previous cloud solutions. Although such solutions can be used to release tool data to different users, the data is not correlated with the respective parts or machining processes. Which means that it cannot be used for any other processes relating to the tool in question, such as reconditioning or disposition. The c-Com platform’s “Tool Dashboard” module networks this data, offering real-time information on usage supplied by a tool dispensing system in combination with valuable analyses. Amongst other things, this allows the performance of individual tools or tool costs to be analysed precisely.
What has long been commonplace in the traceability of parcels in the B2C business is now also possible for tools through c-Com - the tracking and tracing of all goods and data flows.
What could be achieved with the new system?
Several c-Com customers manage their tool disposition much more efficiently and cost-effectively thanks to the "Refurbishment Management" module, leading to considerable reductions in administrative costs and stock levels. Various types of tools (for example, PCBN inserts or solid carbide hobbing cutters) could be serialised. Now c-Com can provide information as to the current status of a tool (new, re-ground, blunt, etc.), its location (manufacturing, storage, at the service provider, etc.) and how long their remaining service life is at any given time. With the help of this data, the platform can provide dynamic disposition management. In concrete terms, the use of c-Com resulted in savings of over 15 per cent.
What measures made the solution possible?
At the beginning c-Com was a kind of spin-off within the MAPAL Group. Employees from different areas within the group worked together on the platform. SAP was enthusiastic about the idea of the platform, and supported MAPAL in its development, bringing in the required know-how. Since April 2017, c-Com GmbH has been a company in its own right, operating as an independent platform in the market, with MAPAL as one of its many customers.
What can others learn from c-Com?
Focusing on customer benefits is one of the major factors in c-Com's success. For it is via the platform that the benefits of digitalisation are made tangible.
Internally, in the development and further development, agility is required above all else. Many significant advances have been made on the principle of trial and error. A decisive driver of success for software companies is having a positive error culture.
