Virtual Commissioning in Automotive Manufacturing Case Study Highlights
Challenge
- The existing gluing station at the battery manufacturing plant was not meeting expectations and required a new application design.
- The new application had to be installed and ramped up on an existing line with minimal downtime to avoid production and revenue loss.
- The new gluing application required completely new dispensing equipment and processes.
- For successful integration, the whole dispensing process had to be requalified.
Solution
- Virtual Commissioning: Developed a virtual model of the existing gluing station and adjusted it for planned modifications.
- Hybrid Solution: Connected the new physical gluing station to the virtual model to validate the system’s processes and ensure seamless operation with the existing equipment.
- Simulated Tests: Conducted simulated tests to confirm the new station’s takt time and check for part failures, optimizing the system before physical implementation.
- Process Qualification: Run the hybrid setup to dispense the material within production conditions and requalify the process.
Results
- Within two weeks, the ATS Industrial Automation team was able to fine tune the software and machine interactions for a reliable solution that met line expectations.
- The customer avoided a multi-week line shutdown, with the replacement process taking only 8 days.
- The hybrid virtual commissioning solution minimized troubleshooting time and allowed simultaneous building and testing of the new station, significantly benefiting the manufacturer.
Company
Automotive Battery Manufacturer
Industry
eMobility
Region
Europe
Challenge
Upgrading Automation without Disrupting Production Lines
A battery manufacturer for electric vehicles (EVs) built two European assembly plants, one in Poland and one in Germany. Although both facilities operated at production capacity, the automated gluing station was underperforming. A new application had to be designed, creating a logistical problem. This was a working factory—downtime meant lost production time and lost revenue for the company. How do you install and ramp up a new station on an existing manufacturing line with minimal downtime?
The new application was an automation challenge that was solved within the existing gluing station using three-axis motion. The gluing application was more advanced in process quality and speed than the previous station. The existing station had to communicate with this new equipment on its own interface. This method of information exchange was completely new, presenting a challenge from a logical perspective. Traditionally this would require stopping the line, removing the old equipment and installing new machinery. The new equipment would be programmed, and engineers would troubleshoot the information exchanges and programmable logic controller (PLC) with the gluing station until it worked properly. All this work could easily result in four weeks of downtime. At ATS Industrial Automation, our team of experts wanted to do better for the customer.
Solution
What if you had the ability to check the controls, logic, information exchanges and movement of the new station before bringing the new equipment into the factory?
This is where virtual commissioning came to the rescue. The ATS team began by digitalizing the existing manufacturing cell and created a virtual machine for the gluing station. The virtual model was then modified to reflect the proposed changes to the physical station, creating a future-state virtual model. The team confirmed that the logic of the changes would work properly.
It was not enough to only test the process and logic of the existing equipment. Ensuring the outcome required creating a hybrid virtual commissioning solution that connected the new physical gluing station to the virtual model. This provided the environment necessary to interface between the new equipment and pre-existing PLC and complete the validation of the system’s processes.
The team ran simulated tests to prove that the new station’s takt time would match the rest of the production line. The station’s throughput was also checked for part failures. This combination of a virtual model and physical system allowed for system optimizations and commissioning that ordinarily would take place on-site.
Results
Fast Implementation & Minimized Downtime
With two weeks of work on the virtual system, the ATS Industrial Automation team fine-tuned the interactions of the software and machines, delivering a proven solution for the customer.
The line performance was improved with the new gluing station, and the manufacturer avoided more than two weeks of downtime. In only eight days, the old equipment was removed and replaced with the new station in the factory, including electrical work and completion of the code and logic checklist. Troubleshooting time was also minimized while the line was down. By using virtual commissioning, ATS was able to build the station and test the control interactions simultaneously, saving significant time for the customer.
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