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Category Automotive

Automotive , Calitatea 4.0 , Other industries , Transformarea digitala

Engineering Specifications Management| Digital transformation for 2nd and 3rd tier suppliers

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Project Overview

This project was developed as a general solution for 2nd and 3rd suppliers, companies who develops materials and components for 1st tier suppliers in automotive industry.

Process to be improved:

  • back-office employee collect customer requirements regarding a new component / material needed to be supplied
  • customer requirements are merged with internal product characteristics to define product and process characteristics, which needs specific approvals by different employees
  • in the end the new component/ product is transferred to manufacturing

Actual process is based on a hard copy form which is performing a loop through different departments for review/ approval, then it is stored in a folder.

Customer requirements process

Due to actual issue(s), became mandatory implementation of a new system which has to:

  • allows remote product characteristics definition/ review and approval
  • provide an easy way to find and retrieve product characteristics list
  • automatically alerting system when the flows are not closed in a specific period of time

A project was initiated with the main goal: to perform the digital transformation of engineering specifications definition and the cross-approval process by deploying an easy to be used digital tool.

Implementation

 Omnium Team has performed the following activities:

  • Process review - identification of approval flows
    • Identify unnecessary activities and remove them from process
  • Plan digital tools development
    • definition of use case, software structure
  • Develop software solution
  • Fine tuning and improvement

As a general rule, Omnium Team works closely with key representative from customer manufacturing site during such implementations. This way of work is needed to customise this solution, due the fact that each company has its own process.

Results

The application was developed in a lean way - to be easily used. The main interface allows users to quickly perform their tasks:

Application main interface
TSM Main interface

Workflow initiation

To initiate a part/ material workflow is very easy: just access Getting started area then fill Start Workflow form:

Initiate workflow
Initiate workflow

We recommend to pass this role to back-office or equivalent (customer technical interface).

One important specification (category) to be defined is the "Special Characteristics" column. According IATF 16949, a special characteristic is "classification of a product characteristic or manufacturing process parameter that can affect safety or compliance with regulations, fit, function, performance, requirements, or subsequent processing of product". Such characteristics are (generally) defined by OEM and cascade throughput supply chain. Our digital tool provide supplementary functions for correct management of such characteristics.

Following the workflow initiation, involved users are notified by email to work on workflow update/ approval.

Workflows approval process

Following previous process step the approval is performed by each responsible according predefined tasks. There is a main sections which shows workflows summary:

Workflow approval interface

By accessing Open Workflow hyperlink, users enters in product definition interface:

  • Update defined characteristics
  • Upload related documents
  • Approve their workflow

Special characteristics repository

This interface provides access to a matrix: part - special characteristic:

Special characteristics repository

This interface displays a list of special characteristics including customer-customer part number. There is a special function : upload related document who implements special characteristic control method. This is very important taken in consideration IATF requirements regarding control of special characteristics.

The utilisation of this digital tools is documented in online user manual, interfaces which allows quick access to main functions description:

Online user manual content

Conclusion

By using this solution, our customers has mitigated the risk of not controlling the definition, checking, implementation and approval of Engineering specifications.

In the end, this solution increases also the company ability to control this process when employees are working from home.

Not, at last, such software as part of customer/ certification body audits was audited with positive conclusions.

All , Automotive , Calitatea 4.0 , Transformarea digitala

Implementarea conceptelor Calitate 4.0

Despre Calitatea 4.0

Noi toți suntem familiarizați cu conceptul de Industria 4.0, dar mai puțin cu conceptul de Calitate 4.0.

Calitatea 4.0 se referă la digitalizarea proceselor referitoare la managementul calității.

Noi am fost implicați încă de la începutul anilor 2000, când am început simplificarea proceselor de acces la documentația sistemului de management prin publicarea acestora în portaluri Intranet.

Proiectele de transformare digitală în vederea tranziției către ”Quality 4.0” au început din 2004 când am instalat primul Windows 2003 SBS server și am dezvoltat primul portal pentru o companie multinațională producătoare de componente auto.

Abordarea Omnium Software

Suntem în acest domeniu de aproape două decenii, timp în care am văzut multe situații apărute ca urmare a modificărilor standardelor de referință precum IATF 16949 și a evoluției tehnologiilor.

Pas cu pas am asimilat din ce în ce mai multe procese în această abordare de transformare digitală, procese precum:

  • fluxul de control al documentelor (propunere - aprobare propunere - transfer spre aprobare - aprobare - publicare)
  • fluxul de management al acțiunilor corective/ preventive)
  • procesele de audit intern

În urma acestei experiențe practice în industria auto, noi am definit o serie de instrumente digitale pe care le considerăm necesare pentru susținerea implementării unui sistem de management robust:

Structura unui sistem de management la nivel ”Quality 4.0”. Recomandarea Omnium Software

Ca prim pas recomandăm implementarea:

  • interfeței principale - punctul de acces în portal
  • sistemului de control al documentelor (DCS - Documents Controller System)
  • sistemului de management al riscurilor, oportunităților și acțiunilor (ORC - Online Controller System)

Proiect de ameliorare a sistemului de management al calității ca prim pas spre tranziția la ”Quality 4.0”

Situația curentă

Companie din industria auto, producătoare de componente, furnizor de rangul 1 sau 2.

Sistem de management implementat într-o structură descentralizată, documentația este în mare parte pe suport de hârtie sau formată din fișiere Office sau similar, fișiere stocate în computerele utilizatorilor.

În timp sunt identificate următoarele probleme:

  • accesul la documentație este dependent de persoanele care dețin respectivele documente/ date. Dacă persoana nu este disponibilă, documentul nu poate fi accesat.
  • căutarea unui document ia foarte mult timp, mai ales în cazul auditului intern, ceea ce poate duce la ”depunctarea” companiei
  • documentele sunt pierdute des, fenomen cauzat de rotația personalului
  • în cazurile tot mai des întâlnite în care trebuie să lucrăm remote și centralizat, acest lucru nu este posibil

Obiectivele proiectului de ameliorare

Transformarea digitală a sistemului de management al calității, pentru:

  • sistematizarea documentelor pentru facilitarea accesului la acestea dintr-o locație unică accesibilă întregului personal
  • eliminarea pierderilor de informație documentată printr-un control centralizat al acesteia
  • organizarea fluxurilor de verificare/ aprobare/ distribuire a documentelor într-un mod trasabil și organizat
  • controlul în timp real al progresului acțiunilor în vederea creșterii implicării personalului și eliminării situațiilor în care anumite acțiuni nu se realizează la timp fără un motiv obiectiv

Implementarea în viziunea noastră

Implementarea constă în primul rând în analiza activităților administrative efectuate în vederea eliminării celor fără valoare adăugată un exemplu ar putea fi deplasarea de la parter la etaj pentru a semna un formular), identificării riscurilor relative la controlul informațiilor documentate și adăugarea elementelor digitale.

În final vom obține un sistem de management al calității implementat într-un mod robust, independent de persoanele care îl operează.

Interfata principală - orientarea spre procese

IATF 16949 este un standard orientat spre procese. Orice companie care va implementa un sistem compatibil cu acest standard va trebui să identifice procesele pe care le operează și cerințele standardului la care aceasta va răspunde.

Interfața principală de acces în portal

De aici putem accesa secțiunea procese unde vedem compatibilitatea cerințelor pentru fiecare proces și de unde putem accesa documentația sistemului:

Acces în zona cerințe vs. procese

De aici putem căuta în interiorul sistemului folosind cuvinte cheie și comuta vederile în funcție de standardul curent (IATF 16949, ISO 14001, ISO 45001..).

Accesând procesul auditat, vizualizăm rapid documentația aferentă:

Acces la documentația procesului - în cazul nostru ameliorare continuă

Documentele sunt gestionate prin intermediului instrumentului digital DCS, element care trebuie introdus pentru a facilita transformarea digitală a sistemului de management.

Automotive

Dezvoltarea aplicatiilor particulare pentru industria auto de Omnium Software

Despre transformarea digitală

Prin transformarea digitală organizațiilor noi înțelegem introducerea elementelor digitale (software și hardware) în procesele companiei ca urmare a unei analize în vederea optimizării acestor procese.

Din punct de vedere practic noi abordăm problema transformării digitale în felul următor:

Omnium Development Model
Omnium Software Products Development Model

Pasul 1: analiza și planificarea transformării digitale

  • stabilirea procesului care trebuie ameliorat inclusiv prin digitalizare
  • analiza activităților desfășurate de acest proces în baza modelului SIPOC - Suppliers Inputs Process Outputs Customers
  • eliminarea activităților fără valoare adăugată unde este posibil sau transformarea digitală a unui grup de activități în vederea optimizării acestora (prin reducerea timpului, ameliorarea calității ieșirilor..)
  • proiectarea soluției hardware/ software conform analizei

In analiza activităților proceselului noi vom analiza fiecare activitate prin prisma valorii adăugate și constrângerilor aplicabile (activitatea este necesară prin prisma unor cerințe acceptate ale clientului, legale..).

Funcție de situația fiecărei activități în parte, echipa Omnium împreună cu clientul va proceda la:

  • eliminarea activității
  • introducerea elementelor digitale pentru simplificarea fluxurilor de date (eliminarea semnăturilor de exemplu)

Pasul 2: Dezvoltarea și implementarea

În această fază vom efectua următoarele activități:

  • dezvoltarea solutiei
  • testarea și implementarea

Pasul 3: Implementare și ameliorare

  • testarea și reglarea soluției (optimizare)
  • transfer în utilizare
  • ameliorare continuă

În această fază noi vom testa soluția într-un server virtual (împreună cu elementele fizice unde este aplicabil), server cât mai aproape de configurația serverului vostru.

Dacă doriți, putem deschide o conexiune privată (VPN) cu acest server pentru a efectua un review remote virtual, transferați propunerile de ameliorare și monitorizați dezvoltarea modificărilor.

Implementarea soluțiilor

Omnium Software Products poate implementa orice (aproape) aplicație în mai multe moduri, funcție de cum vă doriți/ ce capabilități tehnice are compania dumneavoastră:

A) În serverul companiei dumneavoastră (on-premises este termenul folosit uzual)

B) Găzduit în serverele noastre și furnizat ca și serviciu (SaS - Software as a Service)

C) Leased server - noi furnizăm serverul și vi-l închiriem

Studii de caz

Apariția în ultimii ani a conceptului de Industrie 4.0 a creat un val care inevitabil conduce la transformare profundă în modul în care multe companii își desfășoară activitatea de zi cu zi.

Unul din conceptele apărute recent este Calitate 4.0. Conceptul care stă la baza Calitate 4.0 este de aliniere a practicilor de management al calității la capabilitățile oferite Industriei 4.0

Studiu de caz: Implementarea conceptelor Calitate 4.0 pentru furnizorii de componente auto.

Pe măsură ce aplicațiile IoT (Internet of Things) s-au extins am trecut la noi procese pe care le-am transformat digital în vederea optimizării, precum:

  • Monitorizarea livrărilor JIT (Just In Time) între furnizor și contructorul de autovehicule folosind tehnologia RFID - citeste studiu de caz
All , Automotive

About Quality 4.0

Quality 4.0 - Data and data processing is the foundation

History and theoretical consideration

We are all aware about Industry 4.0 - the fourth industrial revolution. As Alvin Toffler predict since '80s, this industrial revolution started in the end of previous century changes the paradigm of manufacturing and delivery products and services.

This industrial revolution wave affects day-to-day business of many companies. This impacts also quality management system and how companies deals with quality issues.

In 2020, Quality 4.0 is considered being a strategy based on several technologies like:

  • Data and data analysis - big data
  • Connectivity and Collaboration
  • Applications
  • Management Systems
  • Regulations compliance

On the other hand, we, Omnium Software Products development team,  were involved in IT solution development to help small and mid-size companies to implement ISO 9001, IATF 16949, ISO 14001, TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) in a paper less way since 2002.

As time passed, we have evolved along with technology, from Windows 2003 SBS (Small Business Server), IIS (Internet Informational Server) and classical asp up to .net core.

Therefore, during 2003-2020 period we had the possibility to observe and understand how related technologies evolved and how was implemented by automotive companies.

Current situation 2020-2025

In 2020, lot of automotive companies are at the beginning of this process. Most of them, in this region has started the transition from spreadsheets to databases. Big data, artificial intelligence and other similar concepts are brand new to them.

Taking in consideration this situation, we consider a good start in deployment Quality 4.0 (and generally Industry 4.0), to reconsider digitization of actual processes by using a reengineering approach.

By using "old" term "process reengineering" we refer to the definition issued by Michael Hammer and James Champy (in their 1993 book 'Reengineering The Corporation'), where they defines reengineering concept being:

Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business process to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance such as cost, service, and speed.

A good approach regarding this rethinking of business process is to search for non-value added activities performed by a company.

This is not so complicated as it sounds, it is only necessary to focus on administrative activities performed by your company. Several can be eliminated, others are mandatory.

The mandatory activities can not be eliminated, but they can be digital transformed.

This is important, because we have identified critical situations where companies loose the control of documented information and actions monitoring.

Unfortunately, this situation was identified regardless of the standard: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 even IATF 16949.

Omnium Software Products Examples

  • Documents approval

In almost all situations, this is done by using papers - author goes to its supervisor to approve a document, he or she has to wait then (following approval) he or she has to go on the workshop to implement the updated document.

This is a lot of wasted time because the approval process can be done entirely with actual IT.

More, all traceability is visible. This can be easily achieved by using a database and a web portal for example.

For sure, during an audit, you will not be able to find a paper in a folder. This embarrassing situation can be easily avoided by using a web-based solution which keeps all documents updated and allows a quick search by using keywords.

Not at last, access to document history and approval traceability is very easy.

By implementing a digital tool to control company documented information you will eliminate lot of unnecessary activities.

  • Control of actions (preventive, corrective)

In lot of situations I have seen papers or Excel files which were not updated. What was missing:

  • automated system to alert responsible about due-dates
  • missing actions effectiveness closure

How we will implement digital transformation in your company? Read this: How we will work with you?

Automotive

How Omnium Software Products develops custom-made applications for automotive industry

Digital transformation we consider to be introduction of new digital elements that change the way the company operate its business processes.

Since 2002 I was involved, as part of my activity into digital transformation (in that time wasn't called in that way). Starting from 2008, when the crisis hit automotive industry, the digital transformation trend was accelerated.

From 2016 until now we gained experience in digitizing many processes for first or second tier suppliers.

First step: Analyse then plan

During this step we will come to your plant, review the subject, goal and process then propose improvements (if applicable).

We are automotive industry specialists in Lean manufacturing, 6SIGMA and systems management, so we will consider all potential issues, starting from GDPR up to IATF 16949, ISO 45001 requirements.

Not at last, we will analyse your IT infrastructure and adapt our solutions to your IT capacities.

Second step: Development and implementation

(C) Omnium Software Products 2020 - Omnium development model

During this phase, we will start development within our virtual development server.

Based on capacities identified in previous phase we will configure the development environment.

Third step: test in a virtual machine

When development is finished we will publish the first release in a virtual server dedicated for your company (as close as possible to your real server as configuration) and start tests for the new application.

If requested, we can open a connection by VPN or other means to our network. In this way you will be able to check the new application, submit improvement proposals and monitor process development.

Finally: Deployment methods

As general, we are able to deploy the applications on-premises, SaS (Software as a Service) and in leasing (a server provided by us).

Read more about Omnium Software Products deployment model..

In present we have a lot of experience regarding hosing your application and related documentation in our server by using a virtual server dedicated for your site.

The connection will be done by using a VPN to our network. Due to high speed connection which we have and good Internet connections existing in Romania and other countries we are able to provide a real time experience for your users (in fact they will not see the difference between a server hosted in your local network and our network).

We have customers which choose this approach, they are working with their digital tools hosted in a virtual server.

Curious?

Contact me: Alexandru TUDOSE

alex@omnium.ro

All , Automotive

Design FMEA according AIAG VDA Manual

FMEA is a systemic method used to evaluate the failures and their effects. FMEA is used to analyze the systems, products and processes with the goal to eliminates or mitigates the failures.

FMEA was developed by reliability engineers in the late 1950s to study problems that might arise from malfunctions of military systems and then was applied to aerospace industry. The use of FMEA in automotive industry started in 70s and spread across the industry continual, as AIAG and VDA develops FMEA manuals .

Design FMEA is focused on product during design and development phase and helps engineers detect failures at the earliest possible moment then establish necessary actions to eliminate or mitigate then.

The AIAG VDA FMEA Handbook is the new automotive industry reference manual for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis and it was issued by AIAG and VDA in the fall of 2019. The goal of the project was to harmonize best practices from AIAG and VDA into a single and structured approach.

According AIAG VDA recommandations, FMEA shall be conducted in 7 steps:

  1. Planning and Preparation
  2. Structure Analysis
  3. Function Analysis
  4. Failure Analysis
  5. Risk Analysis
  6. Optimization
  7. Results Documentation

We, Omnium Software Products team have developed a template for D FMEA - an XLSM file. The goal of this activity was to support the companies and community during transition to this new method. We consider that the first step is to play around then start to review a process, because the understanding of this approach shall be before investing in any of FMEA existent solution.

Anyway, if you decide to invest in a platform/ software, we consider that it has to meet several conditions:

  • to be workflow based:
    This is very important, especially for actions management. The FMEA specialist or the owner has to be able to schedule actions (responsible, action, due date) and the software has to monitor the implementation and alert user when the time is closed to due date.
  • to allow uploading files:
    Users has to be able to upload proves when actions were implemented, and the software has to alert automatically the owners and specialist by email or other means.
  • to be open: Communication between applications is critical now: it is necessary that this solution to be able to read other databases (projects list, products list..) and to provide data by using standard formats like JSON/ XML to other applications.
    In this way you will avoid duplicate work .
  • easy to install (including upgrades): Here it is easy to define. We recommend no install. Develop the application as a web-based solution.

You can download this file by clicking here.

Features:

  • Instruction for form use integrated
  • Hyperlinks to definitions
  • AP - action priority automatically calculation
  • Severity, Occurence and Detection matrix included
  • Easy to acces sections

We are distributing this material for free, according GNU GPL V3 license – it means that you can use it at your free will as long as you will not deny same right by copyrighting the provided material (file and related software). We hope that it will be useful for you!

In 2020 we intend to develop an web application to manage AIAG VDA FMEA in a systemic way. In between, if you are interested in custom-made solutions for automotive industry, you can visit our site - applications .

Process FMEA and Design FMEA templates:

   
Download PFMEA template by clicking the icon.
      
Download Design FMEA template by clicking the icon.
All , Automotive

Process FMEA according AIAG – VDA Manual Free Template

In such chalenging days, we all want to be prepared for the moment when automotive industry will be back in activity, as it was before COVID-19 (more or less changed :-)).

In the near future, we are convinced that most OEMs will change their CSR(Customer Specific Requirements), in order to include the new FMEA approach as mandatory approach for their projects. This article is a good example to highlight this: https://blog.aiag.org/aiag-announces-oem-deployment-plan-for-new-aiag-vda-fmea-handbook . Years 2020, 2021..2023 will pass quickly , so we need to be prepared.

In order to be prepared, we have developed a template which can be used to develop your Process FMEA according new AIAG VDA FMEA manual - 2019.

We are distributing this material for free, according GNU GPL V3 license - it means that you can use it at your free will as long as you will not deny same right by copyrighting the provided material (file and related software). We hope that it will be useful for you!

More, we will start soon to develop a generic web-based software application for this new approach ( new AIAG-VDA FMEA), therefore, we would like asking you to help us improve this template, by providing us your remarks. Despite the fact that it is an XLSX file, this template has several functions superiors to standard template, as, for example automatically calculation of action priority level based on entered Severity, Occurrence and Detection numbers.

Download template by clicking the icon.

Before you proceed to use the tool, perhaps it is a good idea to use this template DiagramaFluxProces.xlsx to review your process understanding.

Your remarks can be addressed to us at:

office@omnium.ro

Stay safe and be prepared for the automotive industry evolution!

We are waiting to meet again soon in the normal automotive industry world!

Alex - write me: alex@omnium.ro

Business Analyst.

Related links:

Development of smart documents/ templates by using Microsoft Office automation technologies