Why did AmbaFlex start its digital transformation?
AmbaFlex is growing worldwide rapidly with production sites in Europe, The United States, and China. This puts pressure on the company to maintain the high-quality standards it prioritizes, and minimize defect burden and aftercare.
Before the implementation of Brighteye’s Momentum software, a lot of knowledge was only available in the minds of experienced employees, this worked to a certain level but became more and more difficult as the company kept on growing. Every time they built a new spiral conveyor, a lot of transmission of knowledge was needed. It made training new employees very intensive and it was difficult to share the best practices worldwide.
AmbaFlex also missed a connection with a single source of truth between the offices and production sites. Every order had on average sixty pages that were printed on paper and sent from the office to production. With a yearly production of 3.000 machines, the paper stack started to add up.
In short, AmbaFlex needed to digitalize in order to support its growth. They decided to fully digitalize the production value chain, from the reception of raw materials and work preparation, over the assembly lines, to the shipment to the customer or integrator. This way they are able to produce standard products and ensure the highest quality and gradually move to optimal production planning, even when new production sites are added.
Brighteye’s modular MOM - Momentum
The selection process had well-thought-out functional criteria, but the supplier also had to match with AmbaFlex’s company vision, integration with the existing IT landscape had to be possible, and the software had to be easy to use for all operators and managers. Brighteye was the supplier of choice to match all of these criteria.
Modular system of Momentum
Brighteye’s Momentum software is a modular system that starts with a Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and offers modules for warehouse management, advanced scheduling and planning, quality management, and even batch management. AmbaFlex chose to start with the most important modules as not to overwhelm the staff on the shop floor. More modules will be implemented in the coming years.
Integration with existing IT landscape
AmbaFlex emphasized the importance of acquiring a manufacturing operations management system without having to alter its existing IT infrastructure. Brighteye’s Momentum was an ideal candidate because of the smooth integration with the already present ERP, file server, HR system, and work instructions in Microsoft Sharepoint.
The implementation of Momentum
Every workstation was foreseen with a computer with the Momentum software. In the construction department, for example, the employee comes to work, logs into Momentum, and gets the instructions they need for making the machine. The staff member doesn’t have to search for the right instructions in thick manual books and endless pieces of paper, they now get the information they need, when they need it. At the end of the day, when they log off, their hours are automatically clocked by Momentum and sent to AmbaFlex’s payroll system.
Momentum also provides different interfaces for team leads and operators. The team leader has access to the entire work planning and can edit it, whereas the operator only sees their own planning and gets to see the instructions and technical drawings needed for their task.
Change management
The first multi-site Momentum implementation project is about working paperless in the assembly sites. The next steps in the roll-out of Brighteye's Momentum platform promise even more ROI. AmbaFlex realizes, however, that they need to go into this incrementally, with adequate attention to change management, user adoption, and data integrity.
From the very start of the project, AmbaFlex saw the importance of having all employees aligned. To be fully transparent about the changes that were on the way, the company placed a kiosk with information and a computer to test the Momentum software for the first time. This way every employee knew what to expect and could get a feeling for the program.
Future projects
Worldwide implementation is planned to be finished in 2024, with half a year of implementation foreseen for each site. The next step after that is to take advantage of the advanced planning to fully utilize the talents of the staff.
AmbaFlex found great success in its digitalization project. Are you also interested in digitalizing your production site? Reach out to us, we are happy to discuss your use case.
