Actions to improve tyre factory productivity with Industry 4.0 solutions

Improving the productivity of tyre factories is one of the challenges facing this sector, because they must maximise production capacity and efficiency, which means they require greater control over the material flow process, i.e. visibility all the way from raw materials all the way to the finished product. 

They need traceability on all materials in their facilities, including WIP (“Work In Progress”) that allows them to ensure component availability to 100% for all downstream production. In other words, tyre manufacturers today need specialised systems, equipment and processes to meet these modern challenges.

External challenges derived from the demands of customers and the market, and internal challenges that lie in the movement of materials and the optimisation of processes within the constraints of production demands. As well as the challenge to the new demands of e-commerce to which many consumers are accustomed, therefore, in order to improve the productivity of tyre factories, Industry 4.0 solutions must be incorporated.

Tyre plants must adapt, especially as the rest of the industry embraces the next generation of systems powered by robotics, computers and the Internet of Things (IoT). These automated, internet-connected solutions can help manufacturers to:

• Operate with high efficiency,
• Improve and optimise production capacity, and
• Ensure full control over production and distribution.

In these new environments, companies have the capacity to not only use the automation for high throughput, repeatable tasks, but also leverage sensors to capture data on what automated tools and robots are doing and affect the process as such.

It is important to clarify that the goal of Industry 4.0 is to create smarter companies with the ability to pivot, adapt and innovate based on data. As a result, all industries, including tyre manufacturing and distribution, recognise the technological potential of Industry 4.0 and are upgrading their plants to maximise the benefits and gain an edge over the competition. 

Defining the cyber-physical environment to improve the productivity of tyre factories 

Using a combination of automation hardware, sensors and advanced control systems, tyre manufacturers can collect data to understand what is happening in their facilities and improve productivity, feeding real data into the system to automatically provide analysis that allows them to optimise operations.

They can have full control and traceability over the material and data flow within their facilities as follows: 

1. A physical network of interconnected hardware/equipment, which includes automated guided vehicles (AGVs), mobile robots, gantry robots, articulated robots, monorail transfers, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), conveyors, etc.
   These systems are used to move raw materials, compounds, components, green tyres and cured tyres from one process step to another with precision and smoothness to improve quality.With these flexible robotic systems it is possible to implement the delivery of tyres in the correct sequence to outbound shipping trucks, which helps to minimise the space needed for order picking, truck delivery times and of course to improve the productivity of tyre factories.While the hardware is integrated with barcode scanners, vision systems, laser scanners and other technologies that collect and send sensory data to software and solutions in the cyber network.
2. A cybernetic network that links everything together electronically and manages the flow of information throughout the plant., In this case, all equipment and subsystems are electronically interconnected to a higher level control system, which is able to monitor, evaluate and adapt the performance.
   It can therefore be said that it has the same functionalities of an MES software for food factories, which orchestrates activity, collects and tracks production data throughout the process. These systems take real-time sensory data from machines to guide optimised, improved intralogistics, WIP, and inventory management decisions, thereby improving tyre factory productivity and throughput.
   These cyber-physical environments help solve the modern challenges faced by tyre manufacturers towards error-free, efficient and high quality production. to highly flexible distribution.

Discussions of automation and Industry 4.0 can seem overwhelming for some tyre manufacturing plants and may seem like a distant consideration given the age of equipment such as legacy facilities. However, Industry 4.0 is modular and easy, it does not handle an «all or nothing» approach. Any facility can start making moves in this environment.

To find out 5 applications of an Industrial MES system you must have in your plant with which you can improve the productivity of tyre factories with Industry 4.0 solutions, subscribe to the Technology for Industry Newsletter, The new solutions available on the market to optimise your plant's operations, such as the four new solutions available on the market, will be presented in this newsletter. most widely used automation technologies in the automotive industry.