Yanfeng Auto Interior, a major global supplier of auto parts and a Sino-US joint venture, has vigorously developed its Industry 4.0 capabilities over the past two years.

The company has a number of reasons for the move, including meeting customer requirements and better coping with the shortage of skilled workers around the world, including in China.

One of the executives responsible for the development of the company's Industry 4.0 project recently spoke to Plastics News Europe: Michael Schachler, Executive Director of Global Change and Business Transformation at Yanfeng Automotive Interiors in Shanghai. He said that one of the company's key decisions was to focus on developing its Industry 4.0 capabilities. "He said. We have to give this issue a very high priority over functional departments to overcome other matters such as trade frictions and cost allocation disputes." "

The company, which is 70 percent owned by Yanfeng and 30 percent by Adient of Plymouth, Michigan, is actively pushing Industry 4.0 in the production sector at the request of its Chinese partners.

Schachler said:" "China is already dealing with an extreme shortage of skilled workers, and they are very concerned about implementing high standards of manufacturing systems and shop floor automation. They have high levels of automation, integration and collaboration, and they are very efficient. Labour productivity is higher than in Europe, and the workforce is highly skilled and highly motivated. "

Previously, companies had taken a decentralized approach to implementing digital technologies, with each department acting on its own," The result has been point-of-care solutions, but also inconsistent data. "

Yanfeng Auto Interiors has more than 33,000 employees in 20 countries around the world, and the company is developing its Industry 4.0 initiative with the help of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which provided the broad framework. "Schachler said. "They also identified key operational challenges and gave examples of implementing advanced automation technologies. This was very helpful, giving us a complete picture of our work, including scenarios for traditional work scenarios, and also helping us to point out the priority areas for Industry 4.0 that we need to focus on. "

MES solutions are key, and companies are prioritizing the implementation of data-based MES capabilities. Schachler says links between the different MES systems must be established within the company. "Schachler said. We have more than 100 MES related systems inside the company, but the interconnection between them is the problem, everyone has gone digital, we are going to eliminate the old system and replace it with a new system that is connected and connects the various feedback loops for faster execution and better decision making. This is the virtual technology revolution, not the digital revolution. "

Another obstacle comes from the non-risk appetite and conservative nature of the plastics industry itself, as well as more stringent compliance issues in areas such as healthcare and automotive manufacturing.

Customers sometimes push the technology forward, but sometimes regulations and customer requirements get in the way. "He said. "Once the customer has signed the agreement, any changes need to be approved and the corresponding costs change because there are very few changes that can be made once the production process is in place. "

That is to say, to implement Industry 4.0 technologies, either at the beginning of the project, or when installing new production lines, companies can start from scratch. " It is difficult to completely overhaul and renovate old production sites at all levels. "

Yanfeng Auto Interiors has built four demonstration plants as pilots, two in China, one in Luneburg, Germany, and one in Belvidere, Illinois, USA. Schachler said, "The" "A factory-wide manufacturing system, highly automated, with upstream and downstream situations available in a timely manner to every step of production, so that everyone can rely on the system to work. "

Yanfeng Auto interior's production line is updated basically every seven years, as customers update their models. Eventually, the old production line will be upgraded based on the experience gained in the demonstration factory. Once these lines are integrated, the whole company can be transformed.

"Schachler said. "We don't have the ability to replace all our lines at once. " The demonstration factory functions as an applied automated laboratory, and other rules apply. For example, they can take longer to prove themselves, and new technologies take longer to generate returns and profits than conventional investments. "

Implementation has taken longer than expected, Schachler said, but the company has seen some tangible benefits, such as the automation process is not a one-man show. "He said. Now all systems have to be integrated, and the next step is artificial intelligence. The cost is a little bit higher than originally anticipated because there is still learning to be done and we still have challenges. "

Schachler said employee response has been positive and workers believe the company is proving their value by investing in these areas. "Sackler said. "The costs of a lack of qualified workers, absenteeism and poor quality are significant, and we want to address them with a high degree of automation. Not because we don't employ workers, but because it's a challenge to find people to perform simple tasks for eight hours a day without making mistakes. "

The problem of labor shortages exists at all levels, Schachler said." "There's a war for talent, and if there's any way we can make this manageable, we'll do it. "

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