To meet customer demands and ensure its boxes contain the exact number of pieces, a top engine valve supplier added an automatic second check for each shipment, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.
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A US engine valve producer ran into a problem when an important automotive manufacturing customer required the company to upgrade its verification system for counting engine valves. Although the company has supplied top-notch engine valves to the automotive industry since 1987, its verification process had room for improvement. To meet this important customer's demands, it had to incorporate a two-step automated check of counts for each shipment.
Over or under? – at a glance
The company chose a combination of the ICS685 Weighing Terminal and the PBD655 Bench Scale Platform. This intelligent combination paved the way for improved record verification, efficiency and accuracy – all while dramatically reducing human errors. TheICS685's innovative colorWeight® feature clearly indicates if the target weight range has been reached. The color indicator allows operators to quickly determine whether the package weight is correct with a quick flash of a green light. The colorWeight® feature also makes errors known with a red or yellow screen, meaning the count is off and the box either has too few or too many parts inside. In addition, the ICS685 stores accurate weight records of each box shipped.
A third check
Furthermore, the terminal's alibi memory feature allows the data to be stored and transferred to another device for a third check, if needed. With alibi memory enabled, the scale records all transactions internally. The alibi memory can then be extracted into a CSV file via a USB thumb drive or by connecting to METTLER TOLEDO’S computer software program, DatabICS. The alibi memory cannot be edited or tampered with, which helps operators ensure that the results shown are the actual transactions that occurred over the scale. The credible results can be compared to the manually written records to locate discrepancies.
Efficiency gains
Besides enhancing its accountability, the company's production line has become more efficient. It takes less time to move products through the production line with confidence, thanks to the colorWeight® feature.
The company's manufacturing engineer says he values the benefits of the new system. "Saving time has been a big benefit and improved record accuracy has been extremely helpful," he says. His company has been able to catch errors before shipments get to customers, which has increased overall customer satisfaction. He says this was the first time he had heard of using scales for counting validation. "We were happy to have found the most efficient and accountable solution."