In today’s high-tech economy, access to real-time information is crucial for companies to remain competitive and operate efficiently. This applies in particular to manufacturing companies such as Storopack, a leading international provider of protective packaging and packaging solutions with a clear focus on sustainability. But how can Storopack quickly identify and address production issues, especially in an environment where day and night shifts are commonplace?
The challenge: Data availability and operational readiness around the clock
Headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, the company specializes in the production of environmentally friendly blown films to protect products during transport. Storopack’s global presence and excellent customer service make them a reliable partner for companies from a wide range of industries.
Various plastic granules are used in blown film production, including both virgin raw material and recycled material. The core process is the processing of the plastic granules by extrusion. As a high Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is crucial for the economic efficiency of production, Storopack asked themselves how they could support their employees even better with digital solutions.
A special feature at Storopack is that the various extrusion lines for blown film production are spread over two halls, several hundred meters apart, for structural reasons. This presented the production staff with the challenge of maintaining an overview of the current situation in the two halls at all times. In addition, one employee usually had to monitor and operate several systems at the same time.
Another important challenge was to be able to provide employees with real-time information so that any problems that arose could be quickly identified and resolved. This is particularly important as Storopack works around the clock in day and night shifts – 365 days a year. In the past, if production problems occurred during the night shift, there was usually no support available because the necessary data was missing. The need to collect information from the machines on site led to a loss of time and inefficient process control.
To drive process optimization with the help of digitalization, Storopack therefore looked for suitable digital tools – and found what they were looking for in ENLYZE GmbH.
The solution: Efficient process optimization with the ENLYZE app
ENLYZE specializes in the analysis and optimization of industrial data. The
young Cologne-based company offers innovative IIoT solutions and software tools for industrial companies. These can be used to improve production processes, reduce costs and increase efficiency. By evaluating machine data, ENLYZE enables its customers to make data-driven decisions and optimize operational management.
The collaboration between the two companies came about through a student who worked at Storopack. He became aware of ENLYZE through a press article
and contacted the company. This initial contact quickly developed into a collaboration. Storopack showed great interest in digitalization and recognized the potential of ENLYZE’s solutions. Finally, a pilot project was planned, which was successful and built mutual trust.
With the “ENLYZE Shop Floor BI” app, the Rhinelander company offers software that allows users to analyze the biggest problems in production with just a few clicks. It not only displays the parameters of the machines, but also the context of the orders, such as product changes or changes to the parameters. This means that even newer employees, who have less knowledge than their more experienced colleagues, can quickly recognize correlations and understand errors.
The solution records all machine and test data from Storopack’s machines using its own edge device. The data is processed in the protected cloud and structured in various data models. This enables a meaningful evaluation. The dashboard allows different users, such as the production manager, production support or the quality department, to view the data from different perspectives.
The analysis includes the evaluation of around 7,000 parameters of the machines, such as melt pressure or process temperatures. This benefits Storopack’s production processes, which have become more complex in recent years due to the increasing use of recycled materials.
The solution is also characterized in particular by its flexibility: Users can customize the data according to their needs and perform various statistical analyses. The ENLYZE app assists process experts in answering their questions and creating value for the company.
The result: Making better decisions through greater understanding in production
By working with ENLYZE, Storopack found a suitable tool in ENLYZE Shop Floor BI that visualizes data and enables employees to identify and resolve problems more quickly. By evaluating and processing the employees’ experience, process control and monitoring could be significantly improved.
The business case for the ENLYZE solution at Storopack lies in improved production and OEE management in the form of time savings in daily work, the avoidance of quality losses and the ability to react more quickly to problems thanks to real-time data. The ENLYZE system helps to improve production processes and enables continuous optimization in production.
Thanks to the ENLYZE solution, production can be better understood, and decisions can be made based on solid data. Users can use the tool in their familiar environment and work directly on the next step to create added value.
