b'Productive TimesFROM CLIPBOARDS TO TABLETST he SAP systems used at Det- END USER SOLUTION PROVIDERmold, Germany-based Weid-mller GmbH & Co. KG, a manu- Weidmller USA Syntaxfacturer of industrial connectivity804-794-2877 866-705-6385systems, had a missing link that thewww.weidmuller.com www.syntax.comcompany wanted to join up using a manufacturing execution system,CHALLENGE Increase digital consistency, minimize paperor MES. (Weidmller USA is in Rich- consumption, and maximize workforce flexibility.mond, Virginia.)Previously, we had just beenSOLUTION Digitalize manufacturing plants with a manufacturing using shop floor operations dataexecution system.acquisition systems to capture in-formation, said Patrick Benjaminsaid. So after a lot of discussionmeeting, SAP brought along an ex-Bk, vice president of global digi- among ourselves, we finally optedpert from the IT service provider talization/corporate factory IT andfor the SAP digital manufacturingSyntax.technologies. Of course, that wassuite. Often, when you meet a consul-not enough to manage and plan ourWhen it came to the decisivetant in this type of situation, they just manufacturing.Every morning, he said, the print-ers would produce reams of way-bills and forms as part of the ma-terial requirements planning batch. And as soon as the product had been manufactured and packaged, the paper documentation ended up in the shredder. This practice was a key driver for the digitalization of the manufacturing processes at the Wutha-Farnroda plant in Thuringia, Germany,aprojectthatsubse-quently served as a blueprint for Weidmllers manufacturing sites around the world. The aim was toUtilizing some @increase digital consistency, reducemiteebite ID Xpansion the use of paper to the bare mini- Clamps on this chunk mum, make processes transparentof aluminum.and maximize the flexibility of the workforce.Following an in-depth analysis of the market, two viable providersEvan Stultzemerged. However, one had a key@olympusmachiningadvantage as Weidmller was al-ready in the SAP stable. Free Design ConsultsGoing with the other solution provider would have put us in aMiteeBite. com800-543-3580 whole world of interface pain, BkWORKHOLDINGSPECIALISTSctemag.com/cteguide.com53ProTimes.indd 53 8/15/23 2:48 PM'