Scania digitalises production data to enable faster and better decisions
27 AUGUST 2020
Real Time Management is a key element in Scania’s production system. At certain intervals during the production day, operators and supervisors gather to report progress over the preceding hours, discussing difficulties and deviations, and looking ahead to the coming hours to predict possible hurdles and prepare for these. In other words, the outcome of the previous game plan is analysed while a strategy for the following game is decided upon.
This has for several years, been a winning concept. Figures and facts are painstakingly noted on large whiteboards, detailing performance of man and machine. The only problem is that much of the time is devoted to reporting figures.
“At present, we’re preoccupied with collecting needed data, which is incredibly time-consuming,” says Business Data Analyst David Sigurdsson. “In addition, the quality of that data is often so poor that when aggregated, we risk decisions being taken on the basis of incomplete or faulty information.”
“We will have more time for analysing trends”
At Scania’s transmission machining workshop efforts are now under way to digitalise Real Time Management. Initially, all currently available data sources will be joined together to deliver relevant information for deciding on the best course of action.
“When data is sourced directly, both management and the workshop floor will obtain original and uncorrupted information. Rather than focusing on data collection, we will have more time for analysing trends and our key performance indicators can automatically be updated.”
The workshop is now gradually digitalising its data collection for easy access to the most pertinent information, enabling production staff to make faster and more relevant decisions. Gathered data can also be visually displayed as, for example, graphs to enable simpler interpretation and monitor trends.
Real time information on phones
Much of the data already exists but has remained within closed ‘islands’ and not aggregated. The transmission machining team has adopted an iterative approach by starting with currently available data while gradually adding more data sources along the way.
“We can also benefit from getting the information in real time in our phones, we don’t need to gather data when meeting or waste time trying to find missing pieces of information – we already have all the data that’s needed and can fully focus on the game plan ahead,” says Sara Asad at Scania’s transmission machining workshop. “We’re not challenging the method itself, merely reinforcing it for better efficiency.”
