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Avoid Wastagewith Smart Weighing Solutions

Lean

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2 METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

Speed up manual processes...…with the colorWeight® colored weight display. Increase the effi-ciency of your production staff with the colored tolerance display that quickly and clearly states whether or not the weight or quantity is within the permitted tolerance. In addition to this, colorWeight® can also help to minimize errors. Thanks to its robust design with IP69k protection, the weighing ter-minal itself can withstand environ-ments prone to dust, oil, moisture and severe vibrations and guaran-tees long operating periods without incurring problems.

Use our online value calculator todiscover how much time and moneyyou could save with colorWeight®.

www.mt.com/ind-colorweight-calculator

Avoid errors……with user-prompted formulation systems. The generation of formu-lations and mixtures is prone to errors, which can have a costly im-

Lean

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g Weighing Can Make You Lean!Smart Weighing Solutions for Lean Production

Lean manufacturing and lean management are of utmost importance,

as they can help to minimize costs and maximize efficiency. Benefit from our diverse range

of weighing solutions and continuously improve your production processes.

Wastage should be avoided at all costs, and this is lean manufactur-ing's main objective. The advan-tages of this production practice include high-quality products, punctual deliveries, a significant reduction in stock inventories, as well as relieving employees and re-ducing machining times and space requirements. So that's the theory. METTLER TOLEDO offers practical solutions that will allow you to op-timize your production processes.

Avoid wastagePrecise, reliable and fast weighing is the key to avoiding wastage and keeping costs to a minimum.

Avoid overfilling…… with accurate counting systems. Order pick parts from an individual piece weight of 0.001 g and select matching bulk weight scales up to a maximum capacity of 12 tons. Our counting specialists will be happy to show you how to avoid costly under and overfilling.

www.mt.com/counting

pact on subsequent productionsteps. Our weighing systems guide the operator through the formulation process and can help to minimize mixing errors. All process steps are simultaneously documented on the PC and/or in paper form and are therefore easily traceable.

www.mt.com/formulation Optimize quality……with integrated Statistical Quality Control (SQC). Monitoring the piece weight, dimensional accuracy, sur-face structure, appearance, volumes and other parameters is child‘s play with our modular PC-based quality control system. Thanks to integrated measuring stations such as scales or digital vernier calipers, data can be recorded online and then analyzed by the quality soft-ware. Should any deviations occur, production can be interrupted immediately. www.mt.com/sqc

Increase the availability……of the scales thanks to their robust design and optimum service. Floor

Efficient and error free storage page 6–7

Reduced overfilling, prevention of wrongdeliveries, fastermanual operations page 4–5!

Best practice examplesSignificant time savings due toshorter orderpicking routes page 8–9! !

3METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

scales in particular are often ex-posed to harsh working conditions. It is for this reason that METTLER TOLEDO floor scales come equipped with special adjustable rocker feet, which ensure optimum force trans-mission to the load cell at all times and thereby prevent any damage to the load cell due to lateral shearing forces. Furthermore, up to 15 tons can be transferred over heavy-duty scales, meaning that the scales themselves can be easily used by heavy-duty fork-lift trucks. The expert METTLER TOLEDO calibration and maintenance service also contributes to the high availability of the scales.

www.mt.com/service

Reduce employees workload……with our modular weighing systems.With or without the colorWeight® display, METTLER TOLEDO offers the world's most extensive range of weighing terminals and platforms with the most diverse designs, sizes

(including free size for floor scales) and accessories. Our specialists are always on-hand to provide you with professional support, meaning you can provide your employees with an ergonomic workplace and thus reap the benefits of efficient operational procedures.

Continuously improve yourprocesses...…with flexible weighing solu-tions. METTLER TOLEDO scales can be adapted to changing ambi-ent conditions at any time thanks to their mobility, Plug’n weigh func-tionality, modularity and versatile accessories. The pallet scales and elevated floor scales, which are not secured to the floor, can be used at any location for a wide range of purposes, and thanks to the Plug’n Weigh functionality can be sepa-rated as often as required from the weighing terminal and then recon-nected without the weighing data

and calibration values being lost. This allows the scales to be moved and the cable length to be extended by up to 100 metres at any time without the need for additional cali-bration work.

Versatility lies in METTLER TOLEDOsproduct range. Round off your weighing station with barcode read-ers, label printers, roller conveyors and stands available in various sizes, or develop your weighing stations into a networked quality control system that can be fully integrated into your production sys-tems. What matters to us is that you are able to continuously im-prove your processes so that your products can be supplied on time, in the required quantity and to the highest quality, while keeping costs to a minimum.

For more information contact us! www.mt.com/contact

Optimized transportationin shipping areas page 10–11

Improved qualityand increasedsavings page 12–13

Reduced materialwastageand errors page 14–15! ! !

4 METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

packages is contained within the carton, the backlighting of the IND449check+ terminal display changes to green.

A worthwhile investment in processoptimizationFor Blum, METTLER TOLEDO check-weighers and counting scales with color-backlit displays have proven to be a worthwhile investment in three different areas. Quality control manager, Mr. Johann Schmidinger, explains: "Firstly, costs incurred from overfilling can be significantly reduced; secondly, incorrect deliver-ies can be prevented and thirdly, the operational efficiency of users can be maximized."The scales can be operated intuitively and thus greatly reduce the amount of work involved, as operators no longer need to stare at illegible digits, but can instead immediately identify

Over fifty years in the businessWith over fifty years of continual suc-cess, the Vorarlberg-based company is today a global player in the manu-facturing of primarily kitchen-based hinge, lift and pullout systems. Blum focuses on products and services that simplify day-to-day tasks for its customers.

Accurate deliveriesWhen it comes to the manual order picking of metal fittings, METTLER TOLEDO scales ensure that custom-ers are supplied with exactly the products they ordered, thus signifi-cantly reducing the margin of error.And this is how it works: The first scale checks whether the correct quantity of metal fittings has been picked. This is immediately visible to the operator by the color of the display. The IND449check+ scale terminal display has color back-lighting. If products are under or overfilled, the display lights up red. Once the target weight is reached, the backlighting color changes to gray. In the next operating step, the picked product is sealed and then packaged into shipping cartons. Here, it is the turn of the second scale to ensure that the correct quantity of packages is shipped per carton, by counting the packages. As soon as the correct quantity of

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Yellow – weight below tolerance

Green – the box is full!

Red – weight above tolerance

Completeness checks with colorWeight® pay for themselves!

Innovative Process OptimizationsRealized with Checkweighers and Counting Scales

To the benefit of its customers, the Austrian metal fittings company, Blum,

places great importance on the continuous improvement of processes.

Innovative checkweighers and counting scales from METTLER TOLEDO

are a key factor in increasing operational efficiency, preventing inaccurate

deliveries and eliminating costs incurred from overfilling.

5METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

whether the target value has been reached, even out of the corner of their eye. This increases the efficien-cy of costly manual labor. Thanks to the high-precision K series weighing platforms from METTLER TOLEDO, Blum can rest assured that it has the required accuracy to ensure that only the correct quan-tities are packaged and shipped. With IP67 protection, the weighing platform is also fully dust-proof and ideally suited for use in harsh environments.

Continually improving processesBlum places great importance on continually improving its processes. METTLER TOLEDO solutions help across the board, from incoming goods, to production and storage, right up to outgoing goods.

On automated packaging lines, dynamic checkweighers from METTLER TOLEDO Garvens reliably check the package is complete and sort and reject those that are incomplete. During production, counting scales ensure that even the smallest of components, such as o-rings, are counted reliably, accurately and efficiently. In this case, Blum relies on a two-scale system incorpo-rating a high-precision analytical scale for reference purposes and a BBK462 volume-measuring scale. This guarantees accurate quanti-ties, even in the case of extremely small parts. The large, brightly backlit display of the BBK462 intui-tively guides the operator through the counting application. Both the detection of new piece weights and the actual counting procedure can be operated simply and effectively.Not even high-bay warehouses prove a problem to the METTLER TOLEDO scales in ensuring the correct weight. Each pallet to be

warehoused is weighed on the roller conveyor scale and the PTHN process weighing terminal trans-fers the weighing result directly to the warehouse control system. This integration automatically ensures that no overloaded pallets are warehoused.

Service makes it all possibleEmployees of Waagen Scheffknecht GmbH, METTLER TOLEDO’s sales partner, guarantee that Blum is provided with professional support and the appropriate services relat-ing to the scales. Mr. Schmidinger explains: "We’re benefiting from comprehensive support, which is tailored to our requirements, as well as from expert installation, cal-ibration and verification services. Thanks to the convenient location of Waagen Scheffknecht, we don’t need to worry about the speed of the service the company provides, for example, if our scales need configuring or maintenance work or if further training is required."

Completeness checks with colorWeight® pay for themselves! 100% completeness check with METTLER TOLEDO Garvens checkweighersEfficient weight inspection prior to storage

Innovative Process OptimizationsRealized with Checkweighers and Counting Scales

Reduced overfilling, pre-vention of wrong deliveries,faster manual operations

6 METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

Effic

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Sto

rage Punctual Deliveries that You Can Rely on

Thanks to the Integrated Counting Solution

The Swiss company Gewitec – the clamping and slotted nut specialist –

relies on the efficient and flawless storage of its products. This is where

METTLER TOLEDO weighing systems lend a hand and support Gewitec

in delivering its products punctually and reliably; giving this innovative

company a real competitive edge.

Delivering our customers’ orderson time is what makes our produc- tion profitable. For products to be delivered across the globe, there is a need for creative logistics and shipment solutions. To achieve this objective, Gewitec relies on an innovative partner that has years of experience under its belt. The experienced counting specialists at METTLER TOLEDO were able to meet Gewitec’s requirements in full.

Gewitec‘s requirementsMr. Beat Rüfli, logistics manager at Gewitec, describes his require-ments as follows: "In terms of the counting solution, we required a reliable, user-friendly and efficient approach. We have been provided with a comprehensive, intuitive and easy to operate weighing solution that is fully networked with Sage, our ERP software system."

Efficient and error-free storageThe manufactured parts are stored in standardized containers and their tare weight is then adjusted within a narrow tolerance (+/-5 g). Mr. Rüfli explains, "We rely on the weight of the containers being con-stant where possible, so that the piece number can be determined

reliably and accurately. Otherwise,the seeds for counting errors will have already been sown." The counting procedure itself is ex-tremely simple: Staff members place baskets onto the scale and select the product on the produc-tion order using the barcode scan-ner. The scale automatically calls up the saved parameters, such as the tare weight and the reference weight, and calculates the piece number. All this takes just a split second. The system then prints offtwo labels with the date, time, prod-uct number, piece number and product name. The label serves bothas documentation for the storage order and as the container label.

Intuitive and easy to operate Thanks to the barcode scanner, all that needs to be operated at the IND465 weighing terminal is the label printer. The rest of the sys-tem is set automatically. Mr. Rüfli: "We couldn’t wish for a more ef-ficient procedure. The work required by our staff members is kept to a minimum with the self-explanatory weighing process and, what’s more, they are always able to rely on accurate piece numbers for stored products."

IND465 weighing terminal with a robustPBA330-B60 weighing platform,

barcode scanner and label printer.

SmartManager: intuitive and easy to operate application and configuration software

7METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

Fully integratedAn additional requirement was to integrate the counting solutioninto the existing ERP system, so that master data for products could continue to be managed centrally. With the SmartManager applicationand configuration software from METTLER TOLEDO, product and scale data can be conveniently monitored on the PC. The soft-ware not only enables the scale to be easily configured, but also establishes a network with existing product management systems. "By connecting the SmartManager to our ERP system, we are saving the expense of a dual product manage-ment system, assuring the quality of our master data and at the same time benefitting from an end-to-end and easy to use counting solution,"explains Mr. Rüfli, who then goes on to say, "The professional support provided by METTLER TOLEDO’s counting specialists has impressed us across the board and means that we now have a solution that is better than we could have ever imagined."

In an addition to this, Gewitec is now testing the integration of the counting system into the ware-house management system. A final word from Mr. Rüfli: "At Gewitec, our aim is to continuously im-prove our processes. Thanks to the counting solution we have now, we will also be able fufil this objective. The weighing system can be used flexibly in terms of its location, be supplemented by a wide range of accessories such as roller convey-ors or additional weighing stations

An integrated counting solution ensuresefficient and flawless product storage

and can thus be adapted to chang-ing ambient conditions in no time at all. Day in day out, our custom-ers in the automobile and aviation industry, in mould making and tool manufacturing, and in the wood industry are benefitting from this flexibility, as they are always able to count on reliable and punctual deliveries."

For more information: www.mt.com/counting

Efficient and error free storage !

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Efficient Order PickingThanks to Mobile Database of 15 000 Articles

Hermle Mechanische Uhrwerke & Drehteile GmbH, based in Reichen-bach, Germany, specializes in pre-cision turned parts. They also man-ufacture mechanical clockworks.

Clockwork manufacturing orders are made out at the storage loca-tion. This means that traveling dis-tances can be shortened if a variety of different parts need to be picked. The article IDs and piece weights of the 15 000 parts are saved in the mobile IND690 weighing terminal. With the SysDataManager program, article data is edited on the compu-ter efficiently and conveniently and data loss is prevented. An article can be called up using a keyboard or barcode reader, automatically making the correct individual piece

weight available for counting. Thanks to this method, determin-ing the individual weight based on a reference quantity, which tends to be time-consuming and fault-prone, is eliminated. A plausibility check may be carried out to check whether the actual piece weight corresponds to the saved value. During this check, the selection of a wrong article number or a wrong part from a shelf will be detected.

Significant time savings were made due to short order picking routes with

a mobile solution. With an optional, simple control method, errors occurring

as a result of confusion between different parts are prevented.

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For the purposes of identifying the picked parts, a label is immediately printed with the article ID, quantity and individual weight.METTLER TOLEDO has met cus-tomer requirements with a freely-programmable IND690 and a PBA330-B60 scale. The recharge-able battery means a guaranteed mains-independent power supply. The whole system is installed on one carriage.

9METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

SysDataManager The SysDataManager is PC software used to manage articles, tables and configura-tion data of the IND690 weighing termi-nals quickly and simply.

Customer benefits• Mobility thanks to mains-

independent power supply • Short routes during order picking • No time is lost or counting errors

are made when determining the piece weight

• Simple data management and backup using the computer

• Optional correct part check

Thanks to the mobile solution from METTLER TOLEDO, Hermle GmbH has significantly increased the effi-ciency of its order picking procedures.

How long are your walking excursions?Contact us for an analysis www.mt.com/contact

Significant time savings due to shorter order picking routes !

10 METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

Böllhoff, a leading provider of connection, installation and systems engineering puts its trust

in robust heavy-duty scales from METTLER TOLEDO for incoming goods. The fact that up to 15 tons

can be transferred across the floor scales means that they can be driven over by fork-lifts

and time and travel processes can thus be saved.

Diversity is key at the German family-owned company, Böllhoff. Whether you require screws, joints or rivets – Böllhoff offers tailored solutions at the highest level of quality – even for particularly de-manding tasks.

Continuous improvementWith certification in accordance with ISO/TS 16949:2002, Böllhoff is aiming to become a zero-defect organization by means of continu-ous improvement. Simplifying proc-esses to increase efficiency and to ultimately improve the quality for the customer plays a central role in Böllhoff's day-to-day business.

Day in, day out, large quantities of materials are delivered at goods receipt. This is where the most resistant floor scale from METTLER TOLEDO – the DSF line – is called upon to check deliveries for completeness. Mr. HayrettinSariz, logistics manager, opted for the DSF3000 heavy-duty scale so that pallets can be checked in a non-time-consuming and space-saving manner: "Thanks to the high-quality and robust design, our fork-lifts can drive over the scale without incurring any problems. This increases efficiency levels in the goods receipt area, as no time is wasted on maneuvering around the scale and space can also be saved".

No problem for fork-liftsThe DSF heavy-duty scales with-stand collisions with the heaviest of devices, can handle weights of up to 15 tons being transferred across them and are thus ideally suited to harsh conditions in the field of lo-gistics. The floor scale has not only allowed the flow of goods to be proc-essed more efficiently, but also mini-mizes the risk of injury to employees. It has also been possible to eliminate the need for protective equipment such as safety barriers and thereby reduce the risk of tripping.

Do You Want to Save Time and Processes in Logistics?Not a Problem for Heavy-duty Scales.

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Mr. Sariz confirms: "The heavy-duty scale meets our requirements in terms of its stable design and the process optimizations achieved through this. It requires less work by our employees, while driving down our costs. METTLER TOLEDO's installation, maintenance and cali-bration services maximize the avail-ability of the scale and have been awarded DKD certification in ac-cordance with ISO/TS 16949".

For more information: www.mt.com/floor-scales

11METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

KOS uses the solid IND445 Industrial Weighing Terminal, with a memory capacity for up to 99 tare weights. It has an optional Ethernet TCP/IP interface to communicate with the IT System.

The PFA574 floor scale with a capacity of 3000 kg is used to weigh wire reels up to 2000kg. The loading is performed by fork lift trucks.

The PUA579 ultra low profile floor scales for 1500kg. The low profile allows easy access for pallet jacks. The solid construc-tion can withstand the load from the wheels of pallet jacks.

A wire manufacturer relies on Rocker Foot suspension for floor scales

in his busy shipping department where there is a high volume

of fork lift traffic.

KOS WIRE EUROPE s.r.o., a mem-ber of the South Korean KOS GROUP, built a new plant for the production of stainless-steel wire in Lovosice in the Czech Republic. The company has invested EUR 21.5 million and employs 90 people at its three sites. KOS pro-duces several types of stainless steel wire, which is particularly suitable for use in the automobile industry.

KOS needed 4 floor scales to weigh the wire reels. The tare weight of the empty reels had to be set numeri-cally. Each scale had to be linked to the IT System with an automatic interface. The scales are to be used in the busy shipping department, where there is a large number of fork lift trucks and pallet jacks. In such a busy environment there is an increased risk of fork lift trucks

or pallet jacks sliding the pallets onto the scale while they are still moving. The sliding applies sheer forces which can destroy the load cell if it does not have sufficient pro-tection. PFA574 and PUA579 floor scales from METTLER TOLEDO are equipped with the Rocker Foot to protect the load cell from sheer forc-es. The METTLER TOLEDO service team installed two PFA574-E3000 floor scales with a capacity of 3000kg for the heavy reels which are transported by fork lift trucks. For the less heavy reels, which are transported with pallet jacks, they installed two PUA574s with an ultra low profile. The ultra low profile allows the pallet jacks easy access to the scale.

For more information: www.mt.com/floor-scales

Solid and Accurate Floor ScalesMade for Shipping Departments

The Rocker Foot ensures optimum force trans-mission into the load cell at all times. It al-lows the weighing platform to be moved later-ally to its safety end stops. This prevents any damage to the load cell due to lateral shear-ing forces which might occur when loads are forcefully loaded onto the scale. Not all com-mercially available scales are protected from these shearing forces.

Do You Want to Save Time and Processes in Logistics?Not a Problem for Heavy-duty Scales.

Optimized transportationin shipping areas !

12 METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

Color

up to twelvedifferentquality criteriaare tested

Lip roll thickness

Odor

With regard to weight, the graphic display of the form tool shows which stamp is producing precise cups (green), ones that are

too heavy (red) or that are too light (yellow). The injection molding machine can now be specifically adjusted.

Optimized quality with integratedStatistical Quality Control (SQC)

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Increases Savings

The plastic cups that we get at drinks machines in the workplace, on the train, on the

airplane or at the kiosk are essentially mass products. Nevertheless when they are

being manufactured they have to meet up to strict twelve quality standards. At the factory

of the well-known manufacturer Bellaplast AG in Altstätten (Switzerland) the measuring

parameters are intentionally set to a challenging level. The checks are carried out by a

Statistical Quality Control system from METTLER TOLEDO.

"We want to ensure that the cup flows effortlessly through the ma-chine. It must feel good when drink-ing and comfortable in the hands of the consumer. There should never be sharp edges or an unappetis-ing odour, and optically the visual impression should also be good", says Harald Metzler, Quality Tester at Bellaplast.

Such ambitious objectives can only be attained by means of a multi-lay-ered checking system. The company has set up checking stations on four work benches in the produc-tion plant which are equipped with precision balances controlled by METTLER TOLEDO FreeWeigh.Net® software as well as other measuring devices. Up to twelve different quality criteria are investigated on sam-ples and the values are stored with unprecedented efficiency.

Systematic sample checks"This software solution gives us a tangible and significant benefit", IT Manager Manfred Oertle told us when we visited him on site. "Each machine operator regularly takes samples from his current produc-tion which incidentally operates uninterrupted from Monday to

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Wall thickness

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Even the tiniest quantities can be a decisive factor…"The machines have a high hourly delivery rate of approx. 100 000 pieces per hour. This fine adjust-ment produces real savings in materials for us", says Manfred Oertle. "If there are considerable weight deviations we do not only take action to prevent later malfunc-tions in drinks machines but also act to prevent materials wastage. Even a tenth of a gram overweight per cup would rapidly add up to high additional materials costs of 10 kg/hour."

Just the 54 cups included in this sample generate over 500 items of data. Manfred Oertle: "With such an abundance of data it is important to store all the information in ourcentral database under a pre-defined term. If complaints arise we respond even quicker because we have achieved the level of trace-ability which we in fact always wanted to have for our production process. Furthermore we are certain that all checks are actually carried out."

For more information: www.mt.com/sqc

Overfilling costs

Even as small overfill can have a huge impactto your company's profit.

Test it now with your own product

www.mt.com/sqc-calculator

Best practice

Statistical Quality ControlReturn on Investment

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Cost of raw materialsWeight unit

Nominal fill quantity

Number of packages produced per day

Parameter

or

Package sales priceCurrency

Even a small overfill can have a huge impact to your company's profit. Reduce overfill of your products and improve consistency and production yield!

Test it now with your own product!

METTLER TOLEDO System Solutions help you optimize your production process without jeopardizing regulatory compliance!

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per

Number of production days per year

Production mean value

Overfill per year

Overfill per package

Overfill per day

Overfill cost (=loss) per year

Missed revenue from unsold packages

Packages not produced

Print FormReset Form

Improved qualityand increased savings !

Saturday mid-day. Immediately after entering the article number on his PC, a corresponding window appears on screen showing the test plan relating to this article. He can then spend around 10 to 15 min-utes working through the individual test criteria: weight, wall thickness, lip roll thickness, color, odor etc. All measurements and readings are then transferred into the same, electronically stored test record; we no longer use tick lists."

New: Graphic image of the deep draw batch on screenMachine operator Alexander Ulm arrives at the control station with the latest sample series (54 cups). He lays cup after cup on the electronic precision balance which has a dis-play accurate to one hundredth of a gram. He then measures the wall thickness with a micrometer which transfers his data via cable directly to FreeWeigh.Net®. Other criteria are entered numerically. The new feature that Alexander Ulm notices is the graphic image of the injec-tion moulding batch on screen in front of him. Green indicator: cup weight correct; yellow indicator: too light; red indicator: too heavy (for each indicator the measured weight of the cup is also displayed, e.g. 4.25 g). The machine operator can therefore see not only whether there are deviations in this batch but also exactly where they have been caused by the form tool. Thanks to this graphic screen image it has now become possible to make spe-cific adjustments on the injection molding machine.

14 METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

A composite sinter metal manu-facturer in Germany manufactures bearings with layers of self-lubri-cating material that require either no lubrication or lubrication only during the initial installation, and no further lubrication for more than 30 years. These bearings are used for shock absorbers, hinges, gears, pumps, valves, car seats, vibration dampers and other equipment requiring bearing materials. The customer’s commit-ment to the environment extends not only to lead-free dry bearing material, but also to solvent-free manufacturing processes. The in-novative technologies are applied in sophisticated, state-of-the-art manufacturing and development facilities.

Customer RequirementsThe customer was looking for a solution to make the batching process for composite sinter mate-rial more efficient. The creation of batch protocols for traceability to comply with ISO/TS16949 had to be automated. The entire recipe

The FormWeigh.Net® batching software makes management of recipes, raw material and dosing

of different components more efficient and more accurate. It guides operators, with instructions,

through the process and helps to reduce mixing errors. All process steps are documented in the

IT system and on a print-out for uninterrupted tracking and tracing.

management process should be performed on a computer. Opera-tors needed to be guided through the batching process with instruc-tions on the screen of the weigh-ing terminal in order to avoid bad batches. Each step of the process had to be confirmed after comple-tion. The protocol of each batch had to include raw material iden-tification, net weight of all compo-nents, date, time and identification of operator and all operator confir-mations. A particular requirement was the extraction of a part of a liquid component at the end of the mixing procedure. This extraction also had to be fully documented.

Finally, the system had to be open for future connectivity to the al-ready existing SAP system.

Solution:METTLER TOLEDO in Germany fulfilled the customer’s need for recipe management, raw mate-rial management, user guidance, tracking and tracing with the FormWeigh.Net® software. This

batching software runs on the MS Windows XP® operating system. Data is stored and managed on the MS SQL Server 2005 database system.

The FormWeigh.Net® software is installed on an ID30 weighing PC, designed for industrial use. The stainless steel housing meets the IP69k protection standard. This protection standard is needed, since powders and liquid compo-nents that can produce dust are mixed directly next to the ID30.The batch is weighed on a KCC150 scale made of stainless steel. It has a full capacity of 150kg with a readability of 1g. The versatile scale meets the IP67 protection standard.

Conclusion:The customer is confident that the company can reduce the amount of waste raw material and in-crease batch quality. The docu-mentation for tracking and tracing is available, as all relevant data is stored in the SQL database. Dur-ing batching, the operators are guided through the process by the clearly visible instructions on the weighing terminal.

For more information: www.mt.com/formweighnet

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Traceable according to TS16949

15METTLER TOLEDO Lean Manufacturing

It costs money to have the wrong number of parts. Even too many parts create

incremental labor cost, since the surplus parts have to be returned, stored,

recycled or disposed. Technique Plastique uses METTLER TOLEDO counting

scales in order to have always the exact number of parts at the right place.

The Dutch company Technique Plastique was founded by its gen-eral manager Wim Kneepkens in 1995. The ISO9001-2000 certified company is specialized in plas-tic injection moulding of complex parts and in assembling of mod-ules made of those parts for con-struction-, medical-, automotive- and electrical industries. A high degree of reliable automation of the material-flow is implemented. Several process steps like stor-age silo, drying, coloring, inject/mould, eject, box-filling-and-seal-ing and palletizing are highly automated. Mr. Kneepkens proudlyexplains: "Pick and place robots and manipulators assure that the products are correctly taken out of the mould and transported to the correct storage".

But Technique Plastique is not lim-ited to production. The company supports its customers in devel-oping its mould products. In Mr. Kneepkens words: "Together with the customer, we develop a solu-tion. We engineer the high quality moulds from the idea to the de-sign and test run until it is ready for serial production. Thanks to the high level of expertise within our company, we are able to serve customers with quality throughout the process from product-devel-opment to production. We also advise our customers in the effi-cient use of raw materials and ad-ditives. The task for our team is to continuously control and improve the process-steps". Technique Plastique relies on METTLER TOLEDO counting-scales in the production and packaging area to assure the right quantities.

METTLER TOLEDO bench scales with a range of 60 kg are used for counting the right batch-quantities into the boxes and containers. Two recently installed counting-scales IND435-BB35 help to manage the material-flow to the customer. Many produced plastic parts are assembled to modules in-house. For an efficient opera-tion, it is essential that the as-sembly department receives the correct quantities of the individual parts. Shortage and surplus will both result in additional material-costs and loss of labour-time. Mr. Kneepkens concludes: "The accuracy of METTLER TOLEDO counting scales optimizes our ef-ficiency. They assure that exact quantities are available in the right place and at the right time".

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High Quality Technical Plastic ComponentsFor Automotive, Medical and Electrical Industry

Always theexact number

of parts atthe right place

Reduced materialwastage and errors !

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