Assistance system ensures quality and increases efficiency in production at EMS provider

| Case studies

Even in the digital age, manual workstations with high variance in high-mix low-volume production are not completely replaceable. On the customer side, the demands on production quality are increasing, forcing producers to increase process reliability. Digital assistance systems enable the complete integration of manual workstations into production and make it transparent and safe. This was also the goal of the EMS provider PRETTL Electronics. It relies on the worker assistance system Smart Klaus.

At PRETTL Electronics, assembly stations have to be repeatedly set up in the area of THT manual assembly and final inspections and documentation have to be carried out. In this complex production environment, the camera-based assistance system ensures the safe performance of manual tasks with many variants and relieves the employees in the production of small batches. "Thanks to the assistance system Smart Klaus, we have been able to streamline production processes, detect process fluctuations and time wastage, and increase the productivity of manual production by more than 20%." says Miroslaw Dziuba, Managing Director and Head of the PRETTL Electronics plant in Radeberg, highlighting the positive experience the EMS service provider has had with the assistance system.

Suitable support in the standard or individual system with future-proof technology

The assistance system is offered as a pre-configured as well as a customised model. PRETTL Electronics uses the specifically customised assistance system Smart Klaus THT for its production. This is equipped with a powerful computer, a high-performance graphics card and a swivelling 20-megapixel camera. The camera can capture details that are difficult for the human eye to see. The modular assistance system also has a touch panel and two monitors, whereby one of the two monitors shows the live image.

In addition to a high variance of components and their polarity, colours, orientations and perspectives, the assistance system also recognises data matrix codes, which is why these no longer have to be manually scanned. In addition, the assistance system Smart Klaus independently accesses neural networks that are trained with millions of images. Thanks to the cognitive system properties, the assistance system can also record key data, operating data as well as measurement and test results and document them together with the recorded images. Workers can therefore perform new assembly tasks and be deployed flexibly even without in-depth product knowledge and specific training.

[Translate to English:] Ein Arbeiter bedient eine Maschine