Ubisense, a Cambridge U.K. location solutions specialist firm, has a major new deal with BMW at the MINI Car Plant in Oxford. This follows agreements with BMW with respect to BMW's U.S., Europe and Chinese installations. Here's what Ubisense's system does according to an article in the U.K.'s
Business Weekly:
The implementation covers the whole of the final assembly line at the MINI Plant, and controls over 100 DC torque tools translating into over 100,000 tool/car matches in any one day.
Automating the torque settings of the tool for each model variant is a key productivity driver for the system to deliver an impressively short return on investment.
The Location Information Solution (LIS), specially developed for BMW Group, combines real-time location from Ubisense with advanced quality management and traceability software from IBS, bringing the production process a step closer to Six Sigma and the vision of complete traceability.
The system tracks individual vehicles through on-line and off-line final assembly. It determines the identity and location of each car in the assembly facility and, based on the proximity of the vehicles to both fixed and mobile equipment such as tools and scanners, programs and controls the devices.
Delivering unprecedented levels of visibility, accuracy and reliability for an RTLS-based solution, the system improves quality, and enables line operatives to work more efficiently, achieving time-saving, process safeguarding, zero defects and cost reduction.
Ubisense's CEO Richard Green, pictured here, is quoted in part:
“We start 2012 with a record order book and expect 2012 to be another strong year for Ubisense.”
