Textil Olius

Complex processes put and end to Textil Olius' possibilities

The digitalization project seeks to improve the efficiency of production processes through the use of IoT and the collection and analysis of data, with the aim of optimizing programming, provide accurate delivery times and prepare the team to operate in an IoT environment.

"The project was initiated due to industrial processes being fairly complex due to several reasons: First, it is a long process comprised of many discrete steps, each of them potentially being conducted in one of several resources. Second, our MOQs are very small because we aim to be very flexible. And finally we have more than 3.000 active SKUs because we offer very customized products to our customers" says Richard Artigas, general manager at Textil Olius.

He continues: "Before this project, this complex process was generating data that was not as reliable as we needed because process times were informed manually and this introduced an element of subjectivity and energy and water consumptions were captured at a very high level and thus not tied to actual processes".

The project called "Integrated Production Control powered by Industrial IoT" focuses on three key areas:

• precision in process times,
• the collection and exploitation of water and energy data,
• and the digital readiness of Textil Olius employees.

The process of the project

By collecting data on process times, Textil Olius is now able to optimize its programming, improve its delivery times, making them more precise, meeting the service and flexibility expectations of its customers.

Second, by increasing data granularity, the company is now able to compare water and energy consumption between comparable production batches, detecting and correcting inefficiencies. They are also able to find patterns in consumption data over time, adapting consumption profile to take advantage of lower off-peak prices, and determine the best combination of energy sources and the necessary PV infrastructure. Furthermore, by linking resource consumption data and production data, Textil Olius will be able to estimate the water, gas and energy used for any specific production.

Finally, the project also focused on preparing the Textil Olius team to operate efficiently in an IoT environment, facilitating the transition to digitalized workflows.

What did they do?

The solution implemented in the project is PTC Thingworx, an open and transversal IoT platform that can support several different uses, avoiding the implementation of isolated solutions that would be more difficult to integrate. Additionally, Thingworx has a powerful ability to connect to a wide set of industrial equipment, which is especially relevant for Textil Olius due to the diversity, age and origin of its machines.

Regarding data collection systems, devices such as water and gas flow sensors, energy meters, grouped in a SCADA have been used, from which production values are read and contrasted and assigned to work orders read from the ERP. The approach taken in this project is to work with commercially available solutions to reduce technical risk, make the most of the budget and avoid dedicating resources to the research and development of specific devices.

The benefits of the cooperation

About the cooperation between Textil Olius and 9altitudes, Nicolás Cantón, Plant Manager, says: "From a productive point of view, thanks to Thingworx we have precise knowledge of the real time that our operations have lasted, and also the time and reason why a resource has not been able to function. Based on all this, we know the yields much better and we can also plan our production with more precision."

A statement that Antoni Rovira, Maintenance Manager, agrees on: "The deployment of smart meters that we have carried out within the framework of this project allows us to know precisely and in real time the quantities of electricity, gas and water that we are consuming. Thanks to Thingworx we can link these consumptions to specific manufactures."

About Textil Olius:

Textil Olius is a prominent manufacturing company within the textile industry specializing in the production of wool felt. This non-woven material made from wool has a wide range of applications including industry, consumer goods, interior design and sound absorption.

With a team of more than 90 professionals in production, research and development, sales and support functions, Textil Olius, located in Barcelona, has expanded globally and exports to more than 40 countries.