Be prepared for the shortage of skilled workers with worker guidance - weasl at Alpha Verteilertechnik

Highly complex processes, the highest quality standards, increasing demand - and a growing shortage of skilled workers: the key to this for Alpha Verteilertechnik GmbH was the flexibility of our connected worker platform weasl.

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Customer benefits at a glance

< 50%

Time required to create an assembly order

- 100%

Manual creation of packing lists and parts lists

- 50%

Time required for work preparation

Alpha Verteilertechnik GmbH

Industry sector: Metal treatment

Company headquarters: Cham, Bavaria

Employees: approx. 230

Founded: 2004

Alpha Verteilertechnik specializes in the manufacture of standardized insulation and power distribution cabinets as well as customized control cabinets. The production of Alpha 3200 power distribution cabinets (assembly and quality assurance) was to be digitalized through the use of a worker assistance system.

The Alpha 3200 CLASSIC and Alpha 3200 ECO power distribution cabinets consist of a combination of more than 4,000 possible assemblies, which in turn are made up of more than 30,000 different individual parts. Each customer order / power distribution enclosure is individual - i.e. batch size 1. Depending on certain electrical parameters, dimensions of the enclosure, cross-sections of copper rails, for example, the specific mounting position of parts results. Depending on the screw diameters and application, defined torques must be used by the fitters.

"With a growing shortage of experienced and qualified employees, weasl is the lever to ensure assembly quality."

Elmar Reuter

Challenges & motivation for the use of a connected worker platform

Mastering complexity

Order scheduling: The customized configuration of the control cabinets requires a lot of time-consuming manual work in order scheduling (e.g. with Excel) in order to prepare the individual parts lists and assembly information.

Assembly: The large number of possible assemblies in conjunction with batch size 1 requires the fitters to work intensively with the parts lists, the drawings and the underlying electrical and mechanical values. This is estimated to take up to 20% of the total assembly effort

Addressing the shortage of skilled workers

The rapidly increasing number of customers leads to an ever-increasing number of enclosures to be manufactured. This requires more skilled workers, an efficient assembly process and, especially for less qualified specialists, precise assembly instructions.

Ensuring the
quality

Quality defects that are only discovered when the cabinets have already been dismantled and are in use can lead to considerable cost risks. Possible rework can also only be carried out at the regular maintenance dates, as this is the only time the cabinets are taken off the networko In view of the growing shortage of skilled workers and the expected increase in volume, Alpha Verteilertechnik saw an increased risk of quality defects and therefore potential additional costs .

Solution

Order disposition

Task

Development of a connected worker platform that automatically creates customized assembly instructions for the fitters, including the required parts list information, in order scheduling for customer-specific control cabinet configurations (batch size 1)

Implementation

Implementation of order management for the creation of assembly orders, their assignment to fitters/workstations, for an overview of the order status and order review

Automated generation of step-by-step assembly and testing instructions

Calculation of an order parts list for ERP import and order-specific packing lists

Assembly

Task

Development of a connected worker platform that guides the fitter through the assembly process in a structured manner with a defined sequence, parts list information, images and drawings as well as supplementary assembly information (torque, quality instructions).

Realization

Execution of assembly orders including worker self-inspection, customizable quality control and dynamic assignment of rework

Creation of different test protocols (for each individual enclosure bay as well as for the entire system)

Creation of printable step-by-step assembly instructions for each order as an emergency backup in the event of a system failure

Reduce cost risk by avoiding errors & ensuring quality

Cost reduction through shorter production times

Creating the basis for coping with higher production figures and a growing shortage of skilled workers

Side effect: Cost reduction due to shorter order scheduling

Benefits of weasl for order scheduling

The time required to create an assembly order has been reduced to less than 50% - from 10 to approx. 5 minutes. Time saving: approx. 5 minutes per job

The manual processing and creation of packing lists and order parts lists has been completely eliminated. Time saving: approx. 17.5 minutes per order

Benefits of weasl for assembly

Work preparation times (gathering information) have been significantly reduced.

The documentation effort is reduced by 100% - no more paper, quality assurance is recorded digitally directly during assembly/final inspection. Manual logs are no longer required, and the follow-up of complaints is significantly simplified.

The error rate is significantly reduced. This reduces the costs for external complaints by up to 30%.

A basis is now in place to handle more orders in a quality-oriented manner, despite the increasing shortage of skilled workers.

Get to know weasl yourself

With our connected worker platform weasl, you create the basis for the sustainable optimization of manual production and assembly processes.

Democratize the expertise in your production.

Create transparency in your production processes

Integrate digitized workflows seamlessly into your value chain.

Be prepared for the shortage of skilled workers with worker guidance - weasl at Alpha Verteilertechnik

Customer benefits at a glance

The customer & his initial state