OEE Transparency in Packaging
A. Vogel AG
The Challenge—Lack of Metrics on Plant Performance
A. Vogel AG in Roggwil, Thurgau, traces its origins to naturopathy pioneer Alfred Vogel, who founded the company in 1963. Today, A. Vogel is one of Switzerland’s leading manufacturers of herbal medicines as well as foods and dietary supplements made from fresh plants.
Manufacturers of pharmaceuticals must meet strict requirements for process safety, traceability, and documentation—all the way down to the packaging lines. A. Vogel operates several such lines, including those for filling liquid products and tablets. What had been missing until now was a systematic evaluation of plant performance. Downtime, cycle time losses, and quality-related stoppages were only recorded sporadically. Without reliable figures, the lines could not be compared with one another, and opportunities for optimization remained hidden.
The goal was to automatically and transparently track the performance of each line and use this data to create a solid foundation for improvements.
Implementation with iDIP – OEE Cockpit for Packaging Lines
Based on the iDIP platform, an OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) cockpit was implemented that meets the data integrity and process reliability requirements of pharmaceutical production. The following key functions were implemented:
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Automatic Downtime Detection: Using pulses from the master machine, iDIP automatically detects for each line whether production is underway or if a malfunction has occurred. Downtime is initially marked as undefined and then precisely classified by scanning a QR code. Status conditions such as “Ready,” “Pause,” or “Setup” can also be recorded in this way—completely and without additional manual data entry.
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Live Display on the Line: A large line display shows the current and upcoming jobs as well as the current OEE in real time. Upon job completion, the yield is recorded directly via the handheld scanner.
- Centralized Analysis and Line Comparison: All production data is consolidated on the iDIP platform. Clear tables and charts, as well as reports on error causes, production times, quantities, and OEE, make it possible for the first time to directly compare production lines with one another.
- Order Planning and Approval: The planning team creates production orders directly in iDIP and manages master data and parameters in one central location. Excel spreadsheets and follow-up questions to the production line are now a thing of the past.
The result—full transparency and fewer unplanned downtimes
A. Vogel now has a constant overview of the packaging lines’ performance. All causes of downtime are systematically documented and can be specifically analyzed. A direct comparison between liquid and tablet filling clearly shows the production team where measures are most worthwhile.
Since manual data entry is no longer necessary, employees have more time for other tasks, and data quality has improved significantly. The new transparency is already paying off: unplanned equipment downtime has decreased noticeably.
"Thanks to Schmid Automation's expertise and the use of the iDIP platform, we have created a reliable database for easy analysis and can continue to improve our processes. Unplanned plant downtime has already been reduced by 10%."
Rodrigo Leute, Production Manager, A. Vogel AG
Integration Partner
We implemented this project together with our integration partner Schmid Automation AG .
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