Kornelis transforms quality assurance through digitization

Many of the caps and closures produced are used to protect food products. This imposes strict quality requirements on both the production process and the raw materials. Digitalization plays a vital role in ensuring the necessary quality.

It began in 1936 when Jelte Kornelis founded a company for the production of bakelite. Today, Kornelis Caps & Closures has grown to become a leading caps and closures supplier, both domestically and internationally. Speaking is Ytsen de Boer, Technical Project Manager of the company: “The digitalization of our work processes first popped into my mind when I read an article about Industry 4.0. That's what we were looking for! We wanted to provide our operators and managers with the right tools to work from a quality perspective. The operators spent about 70% of their time on the logistical handling of products. However, that's not their primary job. Quality assurance is where they should be investing their time.”

Customized solution

After seeking advice, MES (Manufacturing Execution System) stood out. MES is the digital link between the office environment (ERP) and the production floor. Kornelis chose Visual Link Software, the MES solution developed by Hellebrekers Industrial Automation. Ytsen says, “We wanted a tailor-made package that seamlessly integrated with our ERP system. This solution brought us what we were looking for. Together with Hellebrekers' engineers, we implemented the MES solution in practice.”

Faster and better

Ytsen: “This digital shift provides benefits for us in many areas. For instance, the track and trace functionality ensures quality control, and we can serve our customers more quickly and effectively. MES guides both our machines and our people, saving a lot of time. Managers can control, manage, and oversee the department via tablets. Previously, an operator or planner used to schedule their own day, now they receive their work and production processes on their tablet. Operators, QA staff, and technicians can directly operate the machines. At the same time, MES guides our personnel in the right direction. Identifying the cause of a complaint used to take hours; now, it can be traced with a few mouse clicks. Thanks to MES, we not only relieve our staff, but we can also offer smaller batches than larger companies can handle. Plus, we can cater to unique customer requests.”

www.kornelis.com
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