Flexible cells instead of fixed assembly lines! This revolutionary central idea puts IPO.Plan GmbH on the winners’ rostrum for the “handling award” 2019 in the category warehouse, picking and intralogistics. At a gala event on 8 October 2019, the magazine handling awarded the “flexible cell production” first place.
Flexible cells instead of fixed assembly lines! This revolutionary central idea puts IPO.Plan GmbH on the winners’ rostrum for the “handling award” 2019 in the category warehouse, order picking and intralogistics. At a gala event on 8 October 2019, the magazine handling awarded the “flexible cell production” first place. The award ceremony took place at the Stuttgart Exhibition Centre during MOTEK 2019.
“This is the second time this year that we have won an award with our flexible cell production”, said a delighted Matthias Kellermann, CEO of IPO.Plan GmbH, and added: “This topic seems to strike a sensitive nerve”. The award confirms the importance of flexibility in assembly and logistics. Increasing variant diversity and complexity bring new challenges for companies. These can be mastered with flexible cells.
What is new? In flexible cell production, the classic assembly line is broken up into flexible cells. In the resulting matrix, the products themselves choose the next work location. The product thus waits for the employee and not the employee for the product. The core of the calculation is the flexCell algorithm. The results are impressive: Increasing employee utilization, decreasing labor costs and as a further plus, line downtime is a thing of the past.
All just theory? No! The algorithm developed with real data calculates the optimal allocation of assembly orders to suitable assembly cells. The planning software IPO.Log simulates and optimizes not only the cell distribution but also the necessary intralogistics. The basis is the “digital twin” for production and logistics. A further pilot project has already been started.
Further information on the topic of flexible cell production can be found at www.flexcell.info