Cummins JEP uses Ubisense tracking to follow engines

February 25, 2009
Case Study

Summary

By recording when an engine enters or leaves a test or work cell Cummins can see how quickly an engine moves through the testing process and identify any differences between engine types and options.

February 25 2009 - Ubisense is working with Cummins Jamestown Engine Plant to track engines as they move through each stage of the testing process. By recording when an engine enters or leaves a test or work cell Cummins can see exactly how quickly an engine moves through the testing process and identify any differences between engine types and options. The system is integrated with an Allen-Bradley Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) from Rockwell Automation. Cummins Jamestown Engine Plant (JEP) was established in 1974 and produced its 1 millionth engine on March 31, 2008. JEP is the sole manufacturer of heavy-duty Cummins engines in North America and is one of the Company's largest manufacturing facilities. The facility currently employs over 1,300 people making it the largest private employer in Chautauqua County, New York. A key business challenge at any manufacturing facility is process improvement and Jamestown is no exception. JEP faced additional challenges due to the highly metallic and reflective environment within its facility, limiting the viability of most available tracking technologies. Using the Ubisense system with its Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology, an engine enters the test area and a tag is associated and attached to the engine. From that point on the Ubisense sensors operating over a standard network, monitor the areas required and report in real-time on the location of the engine to 1 foot precision. Every time an engine enters or exits a work cell the exact time is recorded in a standard database and passed into the Allen-Bradley PLC. Visibility of the complete process has provided Cummins' production engineers with a new tool with which they can evaluate improvements. "By precisely knowing the time each engine spends in each work and test cell we can streamline the process to improve throughput," said Joshua Pickup, Technical Services Leader at JEP. "Previously we would be working with a limited amount of data which was manually gathered, now we can continuously gather data and monitor each change to the process we make for quality control. Ubisense was the best solution we found for tracking engines within our environment." Ubisense is committed to helping its manufacturing customers streamline processes and cut costs. "In these challenging economic times we see it as vitally important to work with market leaders such as Cummins to develop applications that provide real business benefits. Cummins has provided great insight into the requirements and our goal is to provide them compete visibility of their testing process." says, Richard Green, CEO Ubisense. About CumminsCummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, (USA) Cummins serves customers in more than 160 countries through its network of 550 Company-owned and independent distributor facilities and more than 5,000 dealer locations. Cummins reported net income of $801 million on sales of $4.34 billion in 2008. About UbisenseUbisense is the market leading vendor of precise RTLS (Real-time Location Systems) based on Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology. The company delivers complete solutions based on a highly scalable and reliable real-time location platform that is being deployed in mission critical applications around the world. Learn More

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