Advantech’s iFactory Solution Revolutionizes the Footwear Industry

Partner: HITI

Industry: Footwear

Region: Taiwan

Introduction 

Recent years have seen a considerable increase in consumer demand for high-mix low-volume production. In particular, the need for supply chain reorganization and shorter delivery times necessitates that shoe manufacturers in Taiwan urgently establish agile and precise real-time management strategies. For this project, a renowned Taiwanese shoe manufacturer wanted to actively promote its digital transformation in response to evolving industrial competition.

Three key challenges driving digital transformation

The shoe manufacturer aimed to achieve a 50% increase in production efficiency over the next five years and to implement lean management strategies. However, in the process of promoting operational growth, they encountered three key challenges.

The first challenge was that the networking of their production line equipment was minimal, with many tasks relying on paper-based data collection. In addition to a lack of transparency, this meant that parameter settings and equipment status could not be captured in real time, making it difficult to share and replicate the experience. This resulted in low overall management efficiency and hindered the implementation of lean management. The second challenge was the manufacturer lacked the ability to integrate heterogeneous systems and data collected from diverse devices or systems. For the third key challenge, there were high technical requirements and a steep learning curve for equipment management, as well as no effective handover strategies to facilitate the organization’s rapid expansion.

Digitally transforming the footwear industry with iFactory

Using Advantech’s WISE-iFactory OEE solution for real-time data visualization, the shoe manufacturer was able to immediately improve their responsiveness to problems and quickly resolve the issues identified in their production processes. For example, using the WISE-iFactory OEE solution to obtain data from their IP injection molding machine eliminated the risk of human error when manually copying data. Furthermore, the data could be transmitted and reports exported in real time, allowing production personnel to manage operations according to the actual on-site performance.

As part of the solution, Advantech’s domain-focused solution partner, HITI, developed several I.Apps for collecting real-time production data and related parameter settings. This enables the system to monitor the internal temperature of the mold and issue an alert if abnormal temperatures are detected. The system also monitors the rotating speed of the roller, the product length, thickness, production temperature, pressure, and vacuum status throughout the IP production process.

All data from the production line is uploaded to Advantech’s WISE-IoT platform for centralized monitoring of production status to ensure high product quality through data sharing and real-time data analysis. For the manufacturer, this reduces the risk of production downtime due to equipment abnormalities. Most importantly, however, this allowed equipment parameter data to be easily replicated at other factories as the organization expands, thereby standardizing operations and improving overall competitiveness.

Benefits

• Real-time management of production lines 
• Complete integration of equipment and systems 
• Comprehensively optimized production operations

WISE-iFactory Solution Advantages

• Microservice model 
• High flexibility of I.Apps 
• Highly scalable software platform 
• Industry-specific application development