Partner: NC Line a.s.
Field: Metalworking
The NC Line a.s. company, based in Suchdol nad Odrou, is engaged in metalworking and mechanical component production. It has been providing a full portfolio of sheet metal processing services since 1993. Most of the production goes abroad, mainly to Germany and other European countries, but the company also serves the Czech market.
The cooperation between the EDIH Ostrava and NC Line consisted in developing software for the automation and planning of the production process. The need for a new solution arose from several bottlenecks the company faced in production planning. These included the complexity of production processes, the high degree of variability in production times and volumes, the need to optimise the use of production capacity, and reduced throughput times. Therefore, the collaboration aimed to develop a solution that would allow for dynamic simulation and analysis of production processes, thus increasing production efficiency and productivity, reducing production costs, and reducing lead times.
In the first phase, a comprehensive analysis of the company’s production processes was carried out; its results were then reflected in the next phase – development. Here, experts from the Department of Cybernetics and Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at VSB-TUO focused on deploying the Tecnomatix Plant Simulation tool for production planning connected to the KARAT information system. The Tecnomatix Plant Simulation software was selected as ideal for its ability to simulate and optimise complex manufacturing processes in detail and to adapt to the specific needs of the NC Line production.
Planning using the new software solution brings savings to the company through reduced material waste, optimised working hours, and improved capacity utilisation. NC Line expects these savings to reduce production costs by 10-15% and throughput times by 5-10%, directly contributing to improved profitability and competitiveness.
“The speed and expertise of the software development by VSB-TUO researchers and its implementation into our planning processes exceeded our expectations. Regular meetings, both in person and online, allowed us to communicate effectively and quickly solve any problems that arose in the development process,” said Jiří Dvořák, Digitalisation Manager at NC Line a.s., about the cooperation.