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Optimizing Railway Manufacturer Production Time by 10% and Achieving 100% Time Savings in the Workplace

3

Locations

95

Production Lines

420+

Employees

€ 119 M

Revenue

Background and Initial Status in Production Planning

This use case describes the situation of a leading European manufacturer of components for the railway industry, such as brake discs and axle boxes. The company had sufficient digital maturity in recording actual performance. However, they faced challenges in production planning, scheduling, and optimization.

Despite introducing an ERP system, planning remained manual and experience-based. They used 11 Excel sheets, which required daily coordination and adjustments. Additionally, they struggled with inefficient coordination with subcontractors responsible for painting and drying large metal parts. This resulted in delivery delays, extended operation times, and transport limitations.

Challenges
Before the implementation of the Qlector Leap solution, the company faced several key challenges in their production planning and operations, which hindered their overall efficiency:

Manual search for available production capacities and manual (experience-based) planning of production lines in the ERP system.

Manual scheduling of individual tasks across work centers, as the ERP system does not support the scheduling of a single work order over two separate weeks.

Manual data entry into 11 Excel files (production scheduling involving worker scheduling, procurement, subcontractors, etc.) with daily time-consuming alignments and adjustments.

Subcontractor issues: delays and long delivery timelines, extended painting and drying processes, and transportation limitations for large metal parts.

To overcome these challenges, the company implemented the following features that streamlined production planning, scheduling, and optimization:

Digitalizing production scheduling and extending it to digital planning for subcontractors and final quality control, with all data updated in a unified system.

Building and maintaining a digital twin of the entire factory.

Automatic planning and scheduling with optimization of production processes.

Predicting tool replacements.

Alerting responsible persons in case of material shortages, delivery delays, or shipment delays.

Predicting inventory levels.

Scheduling workers to job positions, with a record of all their competencies and limitations in one system.

The producer turned to QLECTOR for a comprehensive solution that included:

Elimination of all 11 Excel sheets, with digitalized planning of the entire production process, including material flow, actual production performance, and subcontractor monitoring, all within one unified system.

Continuous plan updates based on actual performance on the shop floor.

Ability to plan parallel operations (e.g., production of the lower and upper parts of a product, where two work orders can run simultaneously on one production line).

Tool change matrix: the tool department has a constant overview of tool requirements – when, which tool, and for which line.

Real-time monitoring and forecasting of production for easier planning in support departments, especially in quality control, which has visibility over the parts they will receive for inspection, including the first test pieces after tool changes.

Inventory tracking and forecasting of stock levels in the warehouse.

Fast and efficient management of all changes in production plans – from raw materials to the finished product.

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100% Time Savings – Redirected to Higher Added Value Tasks

With the implementation of the Qlector Leap solution, the railway component manufacturer achieved a 100% time saving in the workplace, where an employee was previously responsible only for managing Excel sheets related to subcontractors and procurement. These savings have been redirected to work tasks with higher added value.

10% Production Optimization and Just-in- Time Delivery

According to the observations and estimates of users within the railway components manufacturing company, the implementation of the Qlector Leap solution optimized their total production time by at least 10%. This achievement is attributed to realistic planning scenarios and more accurate forecasting of the quantity and timing for the production of final products, which were previously hindered by subcontractor delays. As a result, they also significantly improved communication with customers and introduced just-in-time deliveries.

Conclusion

In the company, which also deals with the challenges of ‘low batch, high mix’ type production, the implementation of the advanced AI solution Qlector Leap has effectively digitalized their production scheduling for all machining operations and eliminated the use of Excel files. Now, they monitor material flow, actual production performance, and all operations and subcontractor statuses within a unified system.

Keep following our use cases and blog posts to explore more about how innovative scheduling solutions are making waves in various sectors and driving companies toward a more efficient future.

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testimonial-domen-skrbina-min

With QLECTOR LEAP, we have digitally mapped every process within our company, revolutionizing our operations. This allows us to swiftly and efficiently formulate our production plan, complete with auxiliary workstations. The true game-changer lies in the plan's automatic updates. Simultaneously, all subsidiary processes remain informed of any modifications

By bidding farewell to a multitude of Excel files once essential for production planning, we not only declutter but also reclaim valuable time. The era of manual updates is now behind us.
I wholeheartedly recommend Qlector Leap to those who have yet to establish a systematic production planning system and still rely on Microsoft programs. The tediousness of handling such files and their susceptibility to errors can now become a thing of the past

Domen Škrbina

Head of Production Logistics at Kovis

Kovis is an internationally innovative company for the development and production of high-quality components for the railway industry and various parts for other industrial sectors. The company has established itself internationally with the production of brake discs for all types of railway vehicles: from locomotives, trams, and metro lines to high-speed trains. In addition to the brake discs, Kovis is also the largest manufacturer of axle boxes for freight wagons in Europe.
Kovis turns good ideas into a safe and sustainable future.

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QLECTOR LEAP has enabled significant progress in production plan optimization, as it learns from historical data, optimizes the plan, and provides more optimal suggestions for planners and production.

The most useful functionalities include real-time inventory overview, scheduling of workers and tool changes, and a user-friendly experience for planners, who receive a Gantt chart and a real-time overview of weekly realization. Any changes made to the plan in SAP by the planner are immediately visible in LEAP, allowing us to see when we will have reconfigurations and reduces tool change time.
The condition for using QLECTOR LEAP is well-organized data. With this condition met, LEAP operates with great precision, which is why I would recommend it to other manufacturing companies.

Marija Golja

Production Planner at Kolektor

Kolektor is a global supplier that boasts a tradition of highly specialized industrial production. In almost 60 years of experience, the company became a global provider of mobility components and systems and has added programs outside the automotive industry in the process of diversification and globalization and has spread to other continents.
Kolektor is a synonym for credibility, trust, quality, and innovative products and services. The programs are managed in three strategic groups: Kolektor Mobility, Kolektor Technologies, and Kolektor Construction.

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Qlector's software optimizes production planning in a simple, intuitive way and opens up new optimization options in a simple form thanks to the AI algorithms and various evaluations and reports. A must for modern production

Ingo Hild

Plant Manager at ams OSRAM Group

ams OSRAM is a global leader in innovative light and sensor solutions, building on over a century of experience. Combining engineering expertise with global manufacturing, the company delivers groundbreaking applications that make the world safer, smarter, and more sustainable. Specializing in high-quality semiconductor-based light emitters, sensors, and software, ams OSRAM continues to push the boundaries in illumination, visualization, and sensing across diverse industries.

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QLECTOR LEAP has enabled the automation of planners' work, faster response to changes in production planning, and management of a larger number of machines.

The results are currently evident in shorter inventory lead times for binding unfinished production and semi-finished goods, where we observe a 10% improvement. I would also highlight the expertise and agility of the Qlector team in terms of understanding and adapting to our production planning peculiarities. Domel follows modern trends in digitization, which is why QLECTOR LEAP seamlessly integrates into the ERP and MES system and is certainly one of the AI integrated APS solutions worth exploring.

Matjaž Roblek

Supply Chain Director at Domel

Domel is a global development supplier of electric motors, vacuum motors, blowers, and components. The company was founded in 1964 and has production facilities in Slovenia, Serbia and China. Their motors power over 300 million appliances in premium and consumer markets worldwide. Domel’s business processes employ high levels of technology, automation and robotisation, which form a basis for building competitiveness and excellence.