Now that WOMA organizes its tools crib digitally, searching for tools is no longer an issue

The WOMA Group is one of the leading manufacturers for high-pressure pumps and devices, which are used in many industrial applications. The WOMA pumps, which are produced in Duisburg, Germany, meet almost every need in water high-pressure technology with a pressure of 250 to 4000 bar. Like many other metalworking companies, those responsible for production management contemplated the digitalization strategy in their production processes. WOMA chose TDM as its leading system for tool management and showed that tool management is a worthy investment, even when production is small.
Systemless: Searching for tools the number one reason for downtimes
Digitalization at WOMA began at the shopfloor's bottleneck: Tool dispensing. "It wasn't unusual to spend a lot of time searching for tools," explains Florian Ruff. "Colleagues were hoarding their tools or storing them with no kind of system or structure. When a particular tool was needed, the machines would be shut down for hours while everyone was looking for a particular tool in a panic." Florian Ruff trained as a machine operator at WOMA and was very familiar with the day-to-day challenges of tool provision. In 2018, he was put in charge of implementing TDM for tool crib management. It was no mean feat for him, and he considered how to go about it down to the very last detail: Determining crib structures and continuous article descriptions, defining a crib system and cost centers, and dispersing unlisted stock on machines. Structures and processes are one aspect; the other major challenge is tool data management. "The database is the basis for everything. This is where we can document what the tools have been used for and to what use they are suited," says Ruff. That was only possible in an unsatisfactory way with the previous system. Clear documentation of tool use was one of the main objectives of the project, alongside transparent tool cribs.
Great efficiency: Tool assembly and provision has become much quicker
In 2019, the pump manufacturer moved into a new hall and Florian Ruff began the next step in expanding the TDM application. In addition to new LISTA drawer cabinets, investment was also made in a Grob CNC machine, which was loaded with a palette system. Ruff integrated these improvements into his storage concept, developing the details of stock locations and tool preparation processes. Tool dispensing has been running automatically since. Machine operators have been trained and can now access the required tools and consumable items regardless of shift. The next upcoming tools are assembled with a lead time, which is a process that now runs calmly and efficiently. Dispensing at the tool crib now takes just a few minutes. "Hectic searching is a thing of the past for us all. Now we know where each tool is and can spend our time on correct tool assembly," explains Ruff. All the information required here is available via the TDM software. Tool lists have been created as standard for each machine. These not only indicate individual tool items, but also spare parts.
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