Menu:

29-09-2006

Efficiency of Oticon stock workers doubled

The workers of one of the worlds' leading manufacturers of hearing aids, Oticon A/S in Thisted, are twice as efficient as a couple of years ago.

This is due to the fact that a new eletronic operating system, which guides the workers through the packing processes, has been installed in the large stock section at the company. The new system - GuideOnLine - instructs, monitors and checks through PC's that all orders are packed together with the right accessories and according to the requirements of the customers.

- It was necessary for us to find a more efficient way of packing the orders. The new control system is tailor made for our requirements, and it means that we today are able to handle more than the double of what we used to. It has given the employees a more flexible working day, since they are now able to change between sitting at the packing tables and moving around to find the accennories without needing any particular training, says stock manager Poul Thousgaard.

The electronic control system guides the workers through the packing processes and checks that everything is as it should be.

Large experience

Guide OnLine has been developed by B. V. Electronic A/S in Skive in cooperation with KILDE A/S Automation in Skive. By way of pictures and graphics shown on the screen the system instructs the workers how to assemble, pack or produce an order. At the same time the system checks that all operations are performed correctly, which means that the risk of errors is almost eliminated.

The new control system has been developed to ensure better quality, bigger efficiency and traceability of the manual working processes. B. V. Electronic A/S as well as KILDE A/S Automation have for many years concerned themselves with automation of various projects and this experience has formed the basis of the development of Guide OnLine.

GuideOnLine is a visual control system, which by means of pictures and graphics instructs the workers how to assemble, pack or produce an order.

A major benefit

The control system has become a major benefit to the stock at Oticon.

- Before the system was installed we used a lot of time moving around in the stock to find the accessories for each individual order. We have many packing concepts and therefore it was necessary to train the workers in all those concepts. This is no longer necessary, since the system guides the employees to the right component shelves and at the same time checks that everything is as it should be before the packing takes place. Then the system visually instructs the worker how to pack the individual order, says Poul Thousgaard.

He also sees it as an advantage that the control system constantly checks the stock of the various types of accessories and packing material. This means that the workers can fetch substantial lots at a time, thus ensuring stock for several days' use.

Text: Flemming Hove - Photos: Ole Mortensen, Tilsted Com.