The worldwide automotive trade is within the midst of main adjustments and challenges towards the pattern of electrification and intelligence. In keeping with the current statistics launched by an area auto trade affiliation, the gross sales of China’s gas car market have declined for 3 consecutive years. With the intensification of the worth conflict, some automotive corporations have even withdrawn from the market. The auto components producers caught in it are going through the issue of the way to survive and develop towards the more and more fierce competitors.
Yanfeng Auto Worldwide Automotive Expertise Co., Ltd. (hereinafter known as “Yanfeng Auto”) is a number one Chinese language automotive components provider specializing in automotive inside and exterior trim, automotive seats, cabin electronics and security programs. Headquartered in Shanghai, Yanfeng Auto has 9 R&D facilities, greater than 240 factories and technical facilities in 20 nations around the globe, with over 55,000 workers. Dealing with challenges, Yanfeng Auto’s method is to work with corporations like IBM with superior know-how, trade expertise and technical experience to speed up its personal data-driven digital transformation to scale back value, enhance effectivity and scale for company-wide innovation.
State of affairs 1: Routinely convert huge exterior basic orders to inner orders with the pure language studying functionality of IBM Watson Discovery
Yanfeng Auto receives an enormous variety of orders from automakers and downstream producers every single day, and it beforehand needed to manually convert exterior basic orders to inner orders based mostly on expertise. In every manufacturing facility, it took a mean of 150 minutes a day for 2 workers members to kind the orders manually, accompanied by 15% classification errors. That presents large challenges for the corporate when it comes to labor value and effectivity.
Leveraging the highly effective pure language studying functionality of IBM Watson Discovery and the hands-on help of IBM Buyer Success Supervisor (CSM) crew, Yanfeng Auto efficiently constructed up an AI mannequin that was educated with its combined knowledge of structured knowledge and unstructured textual content, protecting 180 million historic knowledge, with over 200 permutations and mixtures. The mannequin has realized the foundations behind the inner orders comparable to basic orders. The AI mannequin helps the corporate notice a totally computerized execution course of with out handbook operation, growing the order classification accuracy charge from 85% to 97%.
State of affairs 2: Understand high-speed transmission of huge knowledge between department manufacturing workshops and headquarters with Aspera Module of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, establishing knowledge basis for clever stock platform with predictability.
The Clever Manufacturing Division of Yanfeng Auto hopes to work with IBM CSM crew to discover the best way of increase its clever stock platform with predictive capabilities. To drive predictive determination making and computerized recognition, they want a considerable amount of knowledge throughout the corporate for AI mannequin coaching. Nevertheless, the primary roadblock is its outdated method of knowledge transmission.
To take care of real-time situational consciousness of the components stock in varied manufacturing workshops in additional than 240 factories around the globe, Yanfeng Auto must rapidly transmit again to headquarters the 1000’s of real-time photographs taken at every plant. Beforehand, the Clever Manufacturing Division used the normal copy and paste technique to switch the picture information by batches. As a result of gradual transmission pace, large community delays, and critical packet loss, they needed to manually choose and duplicate the picture information by batches and repeat the method a number of occasions. This was not solely time-consuming but additionally made it straightforward to make errors. On the identical time, if the transmission was interrupted, it couldn’t be reconnected and resume transmission mechanically, nor may they customise the transmission pace, or totally make the most of the transmission bandwidth of the spine community.
With help of IBM CSM crew, Yanfeng Auto efficiently deployed Aspera Module of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration inside solely sooner or later to construct up a light-weight enterprise-level file switch resolution for Yanfeng Auto, which elevated its file switch pace by 10 occasions, saved handbook ready time, prevented human errors, realized computerized transmission resumption and computerized community reconnection. With this resolution, Yanfeng Auto now can dynamically configure transmission bandwidth and pace restrict with out affecting the efficiency of its ERP core system and maximize the transmission effectivity of its real-time monitoring information, laying the information basis for realizing the division’s imaginative and prescient of increase an clever stock platform with predictive capabilities.
State of affairs 3: Break the operational bottleneck brought on by Kafka, an open-source knowledge extraction device. With Occasion Streams Module of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, you possibly can simplify the method of extremely obtainable knowledge extraction.
Yanfeng Auto has beforehand deployed an open-source Kafka cluster in every department manufacturing facility to extract knowledge from a number of real-time manufacturing knowledge in its MES system and supply them to the MI Kanban (Dashboard) System of every manufacturing facility for question and show. Nevertheless, this open-source system poses a number of operational complexities.
For instance, for every handbook set up, deployment, configuration, improve, and upkeep, it will take days or perhaps weeks and incur an enormous labor value. Furthermore, it was not in a position to make sure enterprise-level safety and excessive availability, and it didn’t help pure integration with the core enterprise programs and the widespread manufacturing programs. Lastly, there was no Kafka technical help or after-sales assure, ensuing within the want for ongoing funding in workers coaching and skilled consulting providers.
With the help of IBM CSM crew, Yanfeng Auto has efficiently adopted Occasion Streams Module of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration in certainly one of its factories as a prototype for real-time knowledge extraction. The info-generating utility extracts knowledge—corresponding to components manufacturing shifts, manufacturing portions, demand portions, rework portions, sequencing and different related manufacturing knowledge—from the MES system and sends them to the corresponding knowledge subject channel. Purposes that extract knowledge can use the information straight by subscribing to the corresponding subject channel of Occasion Streams. The MI Skynet Kanban (Dashboard) system can choose specified desk fields for subsequent dashboard show and early warning evaluation.
By deploying Occasion Streams, the enterprise-level knowledge extraction resolution, Yan Feng can obtain “one-click” deployment, out-of-the-box use, zero downtime rolling upgrades, and all the time have the most recent steady model of Kafka. Occasion Streams comes with a graphical operation interface, which requires little further expertise coaching. It additionally takes benefit of high-security, geo-replication, and enterprise-grade catastrophe restoration capabilities of the product. Furthermore, different functionalities like superior schema registries and wealthy Kafka connectors and extensible REST APIs make it straightforward to scale. As well as, IBM supplies enterprise-level after-sales service, skilled session, and well timed troubleshooting, serving to the consumer to acquire the technical experience they want.
State of affairs 4: Understand clever manufacturing capability estimation and planning for core manufacturing tools with Determination Optimization Module of IBM Cloud Pak for Knowledge to scale back prices and improve effectivity.
In auto components manufacturing, injection molding is among the essential processes. Yanfeng Auto supplies varied automakers with inside components corresponding to instrument panels, which require a core tools of injection molding machine to provide. As a result of completely different specs of the instrument panels of varied car fashions, the manufacturing course of requires tools changeovers. For instance, when the fabric is switched from black to white, the tools must be cleaned; when switching from white to black, it doesn’t have to be cleaned. Switching from gold to crimson requires different further actions.
Tools switching is not going to solely contain value, however have an effect on manufacturing scheduling and stock administration. For instance, how do they decide the optimum financial batch measurement of various merchandise whereas decreasing stock prices? How do they stability the capability of a number of machines for a whole yr whereas assembly buyer wants? How can they estimate the capability of the machine to raised regulate the plan, maximize the effectivity of the machine, improve productiveness, and cut back additional time? How will they be sure that the plan will be applied in manufacturing and that adjustments will be responded to in a well timed method once they come？
Within the context of the continual growth and alter of demand for varied auto components, and the truth that productiveness and manufacturing sources are very restricted, the normal manufacturing planning technique relies on expertise and handbook calculation, which simply causes issues corresponding to low manufacturing effectivity, excessive stock value, heavy labor burden and extra. All of this might significantly have an effect on the manufacturing effectivity of the corporate, so it’s vital to search out new methods to develop affordable manufacturing planning and scheduling schemes.
After rounds of discussions with specialists from IBM CSM crew, IBM Consultants Lab and IBM China Improvement Lab, IBM specialists developed a complete and agile resolution for Yanfeng Auto with Determination Optimization Module of IBM Cloud Pak for Knowledge. The answer has two complementary components—the general multi-machine, multi-month planning scheme and the single-month high quality scheduling scheme.
The answer helps practically 100 workers in additional than 20 factories to plan the capability of a whole bunch of injection molding machines with extremely detailed and particular plans. Every define plan is accompanied by an correct scheduling plan, which is extremely sensible for follow-up steerage for manufacturing. It is usually an agile resolution: planning a set of schemes solely takes a number of or dozens of minutes, tremendously enhancing the responsiveness to future adjustments. If the shopper wants or manufacturing sources change, Yanfeng Auto can regulate the plan at any time. Based mostly on an agile and customary platform, this business-friendly resolution will be simply tailored and scaled to different manufacturing amenities and different related areas.
The IBM CSM crew has accompanied Yanfeng Auto on its journey of digital and clever transformation for 2 years: from the preliminary realization of computerized conversion of exterior orders to inner orders; from fixing the issue of high-speed knowledge transmission in department factories around the globe to the headquarters; from changing its open-source device with an IBM enterprise device constructed on open supply to simplify its IT operational complexity for high-availability knowledge extraction, to the most recent AI-powered options to comprehend manufacturing capability estimation and planning for its core manufacturing tools. From knowledge integration and administration to making use of AI to its enterprise course of and planning, Yanfeng Auto has been actively co-creating with IBM technical and enterprise specialists to show applied sciences to tangible enterprise values.
Yanfeng Auto is among the trade pioneers in China to deal with enterprise challenges with a “data-first” technique. Yanfeng Auto can be the pioneer consumer of IBM in China that has been working intently with IBM to co-create first-of-a-kind scenario-based options with IBM Cloud and AI applied sciences.
Be taught extra about IBM in China
About Yanfeng Auto
Yanfeng Auto Worldwide Automotive Expertise Co., Ltd. (known as “Yanfeng Auto”) is a world automotive components provider, dedicated to offering carmakers and different customers with inside and seating options that meet the wants of immediately’s and tomorrow’s driving, redefining the best way you calm down, work and play within the automotive. Headquartered in Shanghai, the corporate has 9 R&D bases, greater than 4,200 R&D groups, greater than 240 factories and technical facilities in 20 nations around the globe, and greater than 55,000 workers worldwide, offering international car producers with the design, improvement and manufacture of auto components merchandise. With product innovation and forward-looking analysis, Yanfeng Auto will assist automakers discover the long run, deliver higher human-car interplay expertise to international auto customers, and actively promote the evolution of automotive driving expertise.
