Livonia the quiet Midwestern town in Michigan, sits one of the largest manufacturers and employers in the entire state, Ford Transmission Manufacturing. With more than 20,000 full-time employees, HTM produces automatic transmissions, gears and four-wheel drive components that are supplied to other Ford companies worldwide.
Ford Transmission Manufacturing is a state-of-the-art facility that produces high-quality products in an environmentally friendly manner. And while the equipment and technology are top-notch, the mobile workforce within the manufacturing facility constantly yearns to be more productive and efficient.
The customer's challenge
Ford's data collection process included pen and paper, rugged laptops and numerous desktop PCs. The pen and paper were used when performing quality and machine checks throughout the plant. These paper forms were kept throughout the day and transferred to the electronic system at the end of the shift. This process was time consuming and often resulted in transcription errors.
In addition to the time-consuming process of transferring data, many of the rugged, non-touch screen laptops mounted on forklifts and tow trucks kept breaking down. The laptops could not withstand constant vibration, and USB port usage and battery life did not meet minimal expectations. In addition, poor WiFi connectivity often resulted in data loss and unnecessary downtime.
These challenges Ford faced led the IT team to look for a touchscreen device that could withstand normal wear and tear in the manufacturing, shipping and receiving environment. Overall, they wanted to improve security, productivity and efficiency.
The Solution
Ford Transmission Manufacturing looked at 8 different mobile solutions and chose 3 of them - one of which was xTablet . After a successful trial period of the xTablet Windows ultra-rugged tablet,Ford determined that this solutions had the best solution for their use case.
Ford replaced all tractor-mounted and forklift-mounted laptops in five departments with xTablet tablets equipped with long-life batteries and power converters. The devices are used to track all forklift and tug activity during the workday as parts are received and delivered. In addition, T1200 tablets were purchased to track pallets of finished goods in the unloading area of the shipping department.
Based on HTM's success with the xTable Windows tablets over the course of two years, the decision was made to add several other devices to the product line. These rugged tablets were also used in five departments, but for different applications such as vendor visits, fire extinguisher checks, employee badge scanning and more.
The results
Ford couldn't be happier with the results they've seen since implementing the Windows rugged tablets. The devices, including forklift mounts and office docks, save time throughout the plant, which in turn increases mobile worker productivity and saves money.
Other positive results HTM is seeing include:
Less downtime and IT support because the rugged tablets don't break as often as the rugged laptops.
Improved WiFi connectivity, resulting in less data loss
Powerful barcode scanning that speeds up the process
Use of power converters with the forklift battery, resulting in less money spent on replacement batteries
Built-in numeric keypad on the Tablet for faster and more accurate data entry
"Working with a manufacturer and vendor that is so knowledgeable about their product and our industry had a huge impact on our decision. Not only did the product work as we were told it would, but the solutions, testing, cost, delivery and follow-up were invaluable to us," said an IT project manager at Honda Transmission Manufacturing.
Volkmar Kunerth, Accentec Technologies LLC, kunerth@accentectechnologies.com
