Continental develops pioneering
technologies and services for sustainable
and connected mobility of people and their
goods and is one of the biggest automotive
suppliers in the world. The company has
always been focused on improving
production processes and their vision is to
have a fully automated supply chain by
2030, called 'Fast Forward 2030'- a supply
chain combining people and automation
technology with the goal to provide
efficient processes for the end customers.
But also aiming to increase safety and
improving the work environment for the
employees. Panasonic Business Europe
delivered an engineering solution for the
Continental factory in Regensburg in 2020,
implementing state-of-the-art technology
and a process upgrade. The solution
included process analysis, a re-design of
the unloading area, physical process and
technical hardware optimisation, and the
installation of a Visual Sort Assist solution
with direct integration into the SAP
warehouse management system. The
project was part of a broader technology
evolution driven by Continental in one of its
two global model factories for Industry 4.0.
A new era for the automotive industry.
The automotive industry has been the
driver for the optimisation of production
and supply chain management for
decades. From Henry Ford's
implementation of the assembly line in
1913 to the integration of just-in-time
delivery, often standards developed in this
industry have spearheaded global
manufacturing progress.
Competitive advantage for automotive
companies and their suppliers is won by
those who are able
to succeed and outperform by
implementing innovative and effective lean
production and supply chain methods and
technologies. However, the automotive
industry is in a time of transformation,
combustion engines are fast becoming emobility or fuel cell technology, vehicles
are becoming fully connected and
automated and customers are increasingly
sharing instead of owning cars. Likewise,
isolated production sites are now
becoming part of a digital world of smart
and connected factories. These
developments present many challenges
but also promise interesting gains in the
areas of electrification, digitalisation and
autonomous driving.
"Our colleagues in
goods receiving no
longer search for
single articles,
search times do
not exist anymore."
A Model Factory for Industry 4.0
The Regensburg site is one of two global
model factories for strategy
implementation. At the Bavarian site and
in Zvolen, Slovakia, innovative processes
and technologies are developed and tested
before being rolled out company-wide.
Michael Schwarz, Head of Industry 4.0 and
SCM Operations at Continental explains,
'We have set ourselves the goal to improve
our processes by implementing
practicable Industry 4.0 solutions on-site,
in the factories and together with local
stakeholders.'
With 20 years in leading management
positions at Continental, Mr. Schwarz has
been a member of the 'Industry 4.0
Council' for more than five years. He
explained that the conversation around
Industry 4.0 started with the research
project "Smart Face" that was developed
jointly with the renowned Fraunhofer
Institute and the federal government of
Germany. The Vision "Fast Forward 2030"
drives the transformation from a Supply
Chain towards an autonomous Supply
Network. Therefore, among other
digitalisation initiatives, such as co-Pace,
Continental earned the 'Digital
Transformer of the Year' award in category
automotive from a leading specialist
magazine. The focus of the council's work
is to define the Industry 4.0 strategy, derive
strategic projects, and decide on standard
I 4.0 solutions.
Currently in Regensburg alone,
Continental is working on 16 Industry 4.0
projects in material flow and production
optimisation that are strongly connected
and aligned with each other. 'We see
'Industry 4.0' as the next phase on the way
to digitalisation and our goal is to prepare
more factories for this,' explains Michael.
In doing so, Continental relies on key
technologies including connectivity, data
analytics, AI and the subsequent new
possibilities for designing human-machine
interfaces, all relevant in the optimisation
of supply chain management'.
Smoothly coordinating a global and
complex supply chain
For most companies in the western
hemisphere, a high machine utilisation is
one of the most important factors,
if not the most important and the reliable
availability of goods is required to ensure
this. However, the requirements are
increasing across industries and
countries. For example, among a high
number of pallets the Continental plant in
Regensburg receives 800 parcels per day
across a truly global supply chain, up to
15% more than 5 years ago. On the flip
side, it also has to deliver its products to
660 sites around the globe. The 1,500m2
warehouse was already designed
efficiently before the project and the actual
warehouse was preceded by an 800 square
metre goods receiving area. The goods
were first unloaded, accepted, booked and
finally stored in pallets or boxes in the
warehouse.
Mara Siewert Specialist SCM Operations &
Material Flow Planning at Continental
Automotive said, 'The focus of the project
with Panasonic was on preparing the
booking as it was not efficient. The
deliveries often arrive on mixed pallets.
Under certain circumstances, there are up
to 10 individual goods from different
manufacturers on one pallet and the
shipment from one manufacturer is often
spread over several mixed pallets' she
explains. Before booking in the warehouse
management system, all shipments that
belong to a single order must be found.
This process was losing crucially valuable
time. The aim of the project with
Panasonic was to shorten the time
between the goods receipt and booking so
that goods were available for production
more quickly. After booking the parts, the
ERP system shows whether materials are
out of stock.
Mara Siewert- Specialist SCM Operations & Material
Flow Planning at Continental Automotive
Michael Schwarz- Head of Industry 4.0 and SCM
Operations at Continental Automotive
A priority status is shown in the SAP
Warehouse Management System which is
visible even before booking, with the
intralogistics adjusted accordingly. The
search times for missing parts of a
shipment are one of the key performance
indicators and a relevant parameter for
Mara Siewert and her colleagues.
Cooperation to achieve results.
Continental's attention was drawn to the
Panasonic offer at the Cemat 2018 trade
fair, which was followed by a visit to the
showroom in Wiesbaden. 'The engineers
were open, asked many questions and did
not simply try to make a sale but instead
developed a customised solution for us,'
says Mara Siewert. The go-ahead for the
pilot took place in October 2019 and the
installation, plant processes integration
and connection to the inventory control
system took 14 weeks'.
'Panasonic responded quickly to our
requirements. The image processing
software was optimised directly according
to our specifications so that we have now
achieved a read rate of 99.6%' comments
Mara. This means that the system
processes 300 parcels in 20 minutes, or 15
parcels per minute - almost regardless of
placement, font size, font, or possible
previous damage'. Continental has been
following a consistent Lean Management
philosophy for years, which complements
the Kaizen or Gemba Process Innovation
approach from Panasonic and the results
speak for themselves. 'Our colleagues in
goods receiving see a potential to no
longer search for single articles and
therefore eliminate search times
completely.
Panasonic impressed us with their
expertise and attitude. We share the same
mindset when it comes to finding
innovations that actually offer a business a
technical advantage,' says Mara. In May
2020, Panasonic was awarded the contract
in a global tender process for the roll-out
of the technology within Continental.
The solution
Panasonic delivered a turnkey system
combining two technologies. On one side
image recognition, specifically, object
recognition, and on the other side,
projection mapping. The central element is
a conveyor belt on which two operators
can simultaneously place goods packages
when they have been unloaded from the
truck. The parcels are loaded onto the 7-
metre-long conveyor belt where the Visual
Sort Assist solution scans the barcodes
and projects the suppliers' name and
priority onto the parcels, which are
transported over the belt at 0.8 metres per
second. Conception, engineering,
installation and commissioning were
carried out by Panasonic, using some
products from third parties. This was
preceded by a thorough analysis of the
processes. Panasonic monitored and
evaluated the material flow, the data
streams and the manual working process
over six weeks with a team of experts from
Europe and Japan consisting of business
analysts, system engineers and software
specialists. During the course of the
project, central key technologies such as
image processing software were
developed further in collaboration with the
customer. The search times have now
been eliminated by 40% - and will even be
reduced by 90% with the next update of the
Warehouse Management Software.
Mara Siewert- Specialist SCM Operations & Material
Flow Planning at Continental Automotive
Michael Schwarz- Head of Industry 4.0 and SCM
Operations at Continental Automotive