A <i>Reel</i>y good way of checking <i>aMounts</i>
09 July 2009
Continental Automotive Components has implemented Seratel’s Reel aMounts counting and labelling system for electronic components at its factory in Penang, Malaysia.
Reel aMounts allows Continental to count and re-label reels of surface mount components in 15 seconds or less, compared to four minutes with the previous manual counters. The operator scans a barcode on the reel to carry out the counting, and a second barcode to print a new label for the reel, including the new quantity and operator information.
Seratel and Continental have worked to integrate Reel aMounts with Continental’s SAP/Solo ERP system. This means that when a reel is counted using Reel aMounts, inventory figures in SAP/Solo are automatically updated to include material used in production and handling and placement attrition.
All material is automatically tracked by a unique ID code for each reel, giving Continental inventory control and traceability.
Reel aMounts links a computer, electronic weighing scales, bar code scanner, bar code printer and a database of component types to provide high speed counting for tape and reel components.
All information collected is stored in a database. An extensive, web-based reporting system provides management statistics and detailed analysis. Information can also be forwarded to most ERP systems, printed as reports, or exported to Excel for further analysis. Besides reducing costs, the system provides benefits in material availability, traceability and inventory control.
Bernd Kirchhoefer, Director of Manufacturing, Continental Automotive Components Malaysia, said: “We wanted to improve accuracy and the speed at which we can determine the component stock. Now we can establish our stock balances even more accurately and rapidly. This enables us to control our WIP tightly and identify losses, reducing line stoppage due to components not being available.”
Contact Details and Archive...