Achievements

VALEO: TOPKAPI connected to the MES

Valeo, one of the world-wide leaders in automotive equipment, produces injection, ignition, pollution control and electronic components for cars in its plant in Sainte Florine (Haute-Loire, France).

To provide traceability and monitor production yields, Valeo generally use computer-driven test benches, with acquisition cards and custom-built applications. These applications handle data acquisition and transfer data to the company IT system for production management.

Two assembly and test lines producing solenoid valves for canisters were used to run isolated, without database connection. They produce 10,000 parts per day, 7 days a week in 3 shifts; productivity and quality were not monitored satisfactorily.

The lines were (and still are) fitted with old generation TSX67 controllers with Unitelway protocol.

Valeo was looking for low-cost automatic information transfer to the central system, and permanent display of the line’s OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) on wide screen. Valeo wished more particularly to reuse an existing DLL library (1) handling the insertion of data into the system.

After consulting different suppliers, TOPKAPI system was ultimately chosen, for the following reasons:

TOPKAPI software was lent and AREAL’s hotline allowed quick starting of a test application using Unitelway communication.

TOPKAPI does not need designing mimic diagrams to be operated

Connectivity with the existing application: by simple setting, TOPKAPI allows function calls and passing parameters to Valeo’s existing DLL library (1), without the latter undergoing any modification.

The data is hence transferred to the databases of the global production management system (MES):

OEE

Number of parts produced in the station.

Fault rate in ppm.

Measurements associated with test results, allowing to monitor any drift in manufacturing.

Using a SCADA software as the interface between the controller and the MES also provides the following benefits:

User interface for production monitoring, setting parameters, fault thresholds.

Detail traceability for manufacturing monitoring, for everything not useful to be stored in the central databases.

Easy modification of the application without analyzing the entire program and renewing the associated tests.

(1) A DLL (Dynamic Link Library) is a segment of application code which can be shared by several programs. By calling a DLL’s functions, TOPKAPI sends to it the parameters generated by the variables it manages, and also indicates where data can be read or written in shared memory.