Agricultural machinery manufacturer digitizes production Göweil relies on MES as a central system on the shop floor

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The agricultural machinery manufacturer and mechanical engineer Göweil has built a Smart Factory at its latest location, which paves the way to the future for the company thanks to the latest technologies and systems. Cronetwork MES plays a central role in this.

Markus Maier is Team Leader Corporate Marketing at Industrie Informatik.

For more than 35 years, the Göweil name has stood for a high-quality product range in the field of bale wrapping and pressing technology in the agricultural machinery market. Thanks to a very high export quota, the Austrian machines are well-known and successfully in use not only in Europe, but all over the world. In addition, the robust and powerful machines are now also finding application in the industrial environment. However, this steep company development also poses new challenges for the family-run company.

Göweil products have always been produced at the headquarters in Kirchschlag in Upper Austria. In order to meet the new market requirements and the high demand in the future, the machine builder invested in the construction of a completely new production site. On more than 15,000 m² area, agricultural products are now also painted, assembled and shipped in Rainbach.

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Closely linked to the ambitious project was the desire for comprehensive digitization at the site. Markus Jungwirth, the technician responsible for optimizing the workflows at Göweil, recalls the challenges at the beginning of the project: "We use a chain system in painting and assembly. This means that the planned processes take place in a predetermined order, which can hardly be interfered with or not interfered with at all. The challenge is to equip the transport elements for the parts to be painted – the so-called carriers – with components in such a way that the formulas and painting processes established for them match and the right assembly areas can then be supplied with them. Due to this basic setting alone, some providers dropped out in the MES pre-selection." According to Jungwirth, the goal was to "touch" the painted parts as little as possible and always provide them at the right places and workplaces without much detour.

Integrative systems as the key

Even before the construction of the new site began, Göweil was already using an ERP and a warehouse management system (WMS). The MES intended for production was supposed to seamlessly tie into the existing structures and form a unit with them. With Cronetwork MES, a system was finally found that ideally maps and supports the existing and future processes. Markus Jungwirth explains: "Today, the WMS is triggered by the detailed production planning, initiating the necessary picking steps. The parts to be painted set off, are planned on carriers and finally go through the painting system."

In detail, this means that on the basis of the planning data in the detailed planning, the WMS is informed where and at what time the necessary components must be provided in production. A availability check is carried out via WMS, which returns the updated data to Cronetwork MES. If all components are available, the planner gives the order release. The next steps are scheduling and commissioning of the transports by the WMS, the start of the painting process and finally the delivery to the assembly workstations. Cronetwork is always informed about order statuses or storage locations through continuous automatic reconciliations and thus assumes the leading role in the digital shop floor process.

Optimization potentials thanks to intensive use

In addition to the paint shop, Cronetwork's detailed planning also optimizes assembly. Göweil products, which consist of numerous assemblies, flow just-in-time from various workstations into the final assembly line. This requires precise planning of the parallel stations to ensure optimal supply of the final assembly line with the necessary assemblies. With Cronetwork MES, the company masters this complex challenge very efficiently.

The data gained in the process, such as quantities and times, is recorded using Cronetwork BDE. This puts the focus on the shop floor workers. "Our employees are informed via the terminals at their workplace when which assembly sections need to be started or completed and when the required parts are available. In addition, they can retrieve further product-relevant information such as drawings," says Jungwirth, who continues: "Colleagues also like to use the Cronetwork terminals for a look into the near future. This way, they are better prepared for upcoming orders. An underestimated effect is the many optimization ideas that come from our employees based on this new information and constantly improve our processes." According to Jungwirth, an important factor is the close cooperation and the say that colleagues have in designing the terminals.

MES is now the central system in manufacturing

The plant manager for the Rainbach location, Mathias Kapfer, sums up the current status of digitization measures on the shop floor: "Cronetwork MES is the central system in our production. All orders from our ERP are automatically transferred to the MES, cast into a time schedule using fine planning, and after final release automatically sent to the linked systems such as LVS, the paint shop and the assembly workstations. You could say that Cronetwork fine planning is the working tool for our AV to be able to reflect production as a digital timeline. As a result, we are working more structured, planned and have been able to free up resources." Kapfer also praises the professional collaboration with Industrie Informatik: "To put it simply, Cronetwork MES covered our requirements best of all providers. Since the start of the project, we have also been in close exchange with the employees of Industrie Informatik. The partner is always striving to implement our additional requirements in the standard, which is possible to a very high percentage. But individual adjustments are generally not a problem and are quickly realized."

The digital shop floor has become a reality at Göweil's new location. The MES as the central pivot point for this delivers what the machine builder expected - and even more. Above all, the digital mapping of the pearl chain system in Cronetwork is an important step towards resource efficiency. A large part of storage and logistics activities are eliminated as a result, chaotic warehouses are a thing of the past. The close link and high degree of integration with adjacent systems such as ERP and WMS enable paperless, automated, structured and documented workflows. In addition, the powerful fine manufacturing planning takes over the scheduling coordination on the shop floor, which relieves a lot of work for the employees around the foreman and frees up capacities and concentration for other important tasks in the factory. Last but not least, many more optimization potentials at the production line were uncovered thanks to the transparent processes - keyword terminals.

"Currently, we are still working on further optimizing the use of Cronetwork MES in our plant. The possibilities in the combination of MDE, BDE and detailed planning are huge and we are only at the beginning of our journey," says Mathias Kapfer in conclusion.