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Asset Agent: Boost productivity in non-conveyor belt mass production

Do you want to increase your tire manufacturing output without heavy investments in infrastructure and workforce? Asset Agent is a simple, highly scalable solution tailor-made to boost productivity in non-conveyor belt mass production processes by up to 3%. Keep the flexibility of your production islands without the frustrations of manual processes. In the end, you will add automated manufacturing to flexible production lines.

Built to integrate into your IT landscape, Asset Agent will become an essential part of your tire manufacturing operations. Make your life easy: No user training required, plug & play with your ERP system like SAP EWM, ease of installation and fully adaptable to your expansion plans.

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Eliminate waste & save money

Tire manufacturers often use manual processes for the transportation of raw materials or finished goods inside their production facilities, wherever there are lots of production stages with lots of variety. To find and direct these assets efficiently is a constant challenge during chaotic manual mass production processes. Done right, it saves time, increases machine utilisation and eliminates raw material wastage. Successful and efficient production is all about visibility and avoiding mishaps that cost money and reduce productivity.

The correct identification of all material throughout the entire production process eliminates the idle time and waste caused by incorrect deliveries. Possible delays are reduced to zero. Gain real-time visibility (RTLS) of every single material in your production process with unmatched scalability. A wireless solution that constantly connects the physical location of all products to a central server provides valuable assistance to your workforce to do their job right. Without the need for high CAPEX investments like automated guided vehicles (AGV’s), automated guided carts (AGC’s), or a fully automated factory.

That’s how we designed Asset Agent:

  • Standardise your processes while staying flexible
  • A robust wireless IIoT device supporting open standards like omlox
  • Plug & play with your Production Management Software (PMS)

Key Features

Asset Agent is a flexible, versatile solution. It is light infrastructure, and powerful edgeware has helped it become a proven solution.

Asset Agent optimises unguided internal transportation processes, from assembly to indoor and outdoor storage areas, and on to further transportation. By knowing the accurate real time location of every asset in every storage area, search times and machine idle times are eliminated.

 

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Modular: STANDARDISE PROCESSES WHILE STAYING FLEXIBLE

In production, you look for efficiency through the standardization of your processes. At the same time, you strive for flexibility because markets ask for ongoing innovation and customers for individualized products. Thanks to the modular design of Asset Agent, you can permanently optimize your processes and remain flexible at the same time.

Whether you want to integrate automated and manual processes, need to apply a specific consumption sequence procedure like FEFO, or analyse your last day’s operations, you need only one system to manage and execute all of your manual transportation tasks. Asset Agents’ real-time data plays an important part in keeping your production on track.

Asset Agent features a modular design for your individual needs:

  • Automated identification of assets (AIS)
  • Enabled gates and zones
  • Full RTLS
  • Pick-by-light functionality

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Automatic Identification Solution (AIS)

The Automatic Identification Solution (AIS) is used at production machines to identify the asset being inserted, as well as its material type and expiration date. This information is then validated according to the FEFO (First Expire First Out) strategy, ensuring that the process remains compliant at all times.

Once connected to the wireless Asset Agent transponder, all necessary data becomes visible.


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Locate assets through gates and zones

When you need to know the exact location of your assets in real time within your factory, the most efficient way to do so is by dividing it into zones. These zones can be thought of as fences with gates that allow passage in and out of the area. By monitoring the gates, you can gain a clear picture of when assets enter and leave each specific zone.

Always knowing the position of all material inside your plant allows for better planning, and eliminating unproductive bar-code scans and paper & pencil processes.

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Real-time Location of all material

Once you connect to the Wireless Asset Agent Transponder, all the assets will be available in your digital landscape with a high precision accuracy. This system automates processes by providing constant real-time positions, thus eliminating delays and avoiding costly planning errors. The Asset Agent RTLS transponder is easy to install and requires no maintenance - not to mention that its exchangeable battery can last up to five years!

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Pick-by-light everywhere

Thanks to its “pick-by-light“ functionality, your team locates all materials visually, instead of having to search. Always knowing the exact position of all material inside your plant allows for better planning, and eliminating tasks that consumes at lot of time from the workers such as scanning barcodes or walking around amongst the assets to find the right one.

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Key benefits of a proven solution…

With visibility comes insight, and now you can identify bottlenecks and fine-tune processes to increase efficiency and productivity. Asset Agent supplies you with real-time data providing visibility of all material, where they are, and when they are loaded, stored, or put into production.

The comprehensive reports provided by the Asset Agent software enable you to truly fulfill your role as a business process manager. You learn about, and from, the system, gain insight into how to further improve the way you produce your goods. Overall, your reputation as a knowledgeable manager will grow and positively impact your other projects.

 

Makes you work better

  • Eliminates search and idle times to increase labour productivity

  • Replaces scanner & barcode and paper & pencil processes without any need for human interaction

  • Traffic light-based user interface to guide workforce

Gives you control

  • Connects unpowered, mobile assets to your ERP system

  • Synchronizes the actual production status with the production plan in real-time

  • Comprehensive reporting system

Gives you a valuable insight

  • Operational improvements based on KPIs

  • Visualization of actual material flow

  • Optimization of raw material usage by ensuring FIFO, FEFO and others 

Makes your life easier

  • Seamless API-based integration with SAP EWM and many others

  • Ease of use in brown- and greenfield production plants without training

  • Bolt-on hardware installation w/o interruption of ongoing operations

  • 24/7 remote support & service by a global support team

Saves you money

  • Increases production output by up to 3% with same input incl. raw material

  • Eliminates unnecessary CAPEX for additional machinery and production space

  • Ultra-low maintenance system with up to 10 years battery lifetime

Who is using Asset Agent

Our wireless solution gives you control, makes your team work more efficiently, delivers valuable insights, and eliminates wastefulness. That's why the biggest and most productive tire manufacturers trust us. We help them better utilise their resources – in Europe, South America, Asia, and around the world like Continental.

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"Without Asset Agent, nothing works here. Vehicle preparation would stop."

Michael Imrock, Manager Process and Vehicle Control, Department Vehicle Preparation, Volkswagen Wolfsburg

"The extension of the Asset Agent's capabilities to our outdoor finished vehicle areas is a game-changer. It provides us with greater visibility and control, enabling a more streamlined process flow that will drive significant productivity improvements."

Tomas Valicek, Project Manager, Volkswagen Slovakia

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