Maximizing Efficiency and Reducing Waste in ARMOR’s Thermal Transfer Ribbon Production with DELMIA

ARMOR, the world leader in thermal transfer ribbons, faced challenges in optimizing operational performance and controlling production flows in their Nantes plant. By implementing DELMIA Production Planning & Scheduling solution, the company experienced reduced human intervention, faster planning, sustained high customer service levels, efficiency gains, reduced product waste, and improved responsiveness.

ARMOR GROUP, a global leader in thermal transfer ribbons, needed to optimize their manufacturing processes to reduce waste, control customer lead-times, and avoid shop floor stock-outs while maximizing equipment uptime. They turned to DELMIA Production Planning & Scheduling solution to address these challenges.

The implementation of DELMIA helped ARMOR optimize their Nantes plant’s operations, which produces more than 60,000 rolls daily. The solution enabled better coordination between the plant’s grinding, spool coating, and roll cutting shops, ensuring seamless synchronization and avoiding overproduction.

DELMIA’s advanced planning capabilities allowed ARMOR to validate load/capacity matching regularly, avoid stock-outs and overproduction, reduce waste, and reschedule production orders daily based on variances and new requirements. The cutting and packaging shops also benefited from the system’s ability to manage scheduling with an alert system and control load through regular simulations.

As a result of implementing DELMIA, ARMOR experienced multiple benefits:

• 50% reduction in product stock-outs in the manufacturing shops
• Reduced human intervention, with manual scheduling adjustments reduced from 100% to just 15%
• Time savings in weekend planning, from 2-3 hours to only 30 minutes
• Reduce lead-time from 10 to 3 business days

DELMIA’s Production Planning & Scheduling solution has empowered ARMOR to effectively control customer lead-times and enhance machine utilization. The solution maintains high customer service levels, even during periods of increased workload, while also increasing productivity in production and changeover time. Furthermore, it reduces product and process waste, bolsters responsiveness, and promotes better management of machine utilization. This success showcases the significant impact advanced planning and scheduling solutions can have on maximizing efficiency and minimizing waste within the manufacturing industry.