Digital work instructions keep quality up, carbon footprint down for HVAC manufacturer

Situation

Aurora Group is a producer of HVAC systems for buses and heavy-duty machinery within the agricultural, construction, and forestry industries. Its North American production and test site in Rochester, Mich., takes on projects from the early design stages to assembly, testing, and deployment, while ensuring every unit meets the company’s best-in-class quality standards. Production operators perform numerous inspections during and after assembly to ensure the quality of the equipment.

However, the company’s production process was being hampered and slowed down by having to print work instructions and inspection booklets on paper. Updating processes while keeping track of checkups using paper checklists was burdensome.

As a result of a global initiative to reduce its carbon footprint, Aurora identified a need for leaner production that would eliminate waste and improve operational quality. To stay true to this vision, Aurora North America decided to shift to a paperless production method that would streamline daily inspections and floor data capture.

Resolution

VKS helped Aurora analyze its need for a visual, user-friendly tool and suggested VKS Pro manufacturing software. Now the facility has a consolidated shop floor with monitors and tablets that display digital guidebooks. Capable of capturing data in real time, tablets help enhance the internal audits performed daily by making them effortless and centralized.

“By switching to digital work instructions, Aurora was able to eliminate paper waste and streamline the inspection process with fast mass updates of the shop floor guidebooks,” said Brian Benson, manufacturing and testing engineer.

In addition, being able to capture data throughout the assembly process has allowed the company to respond to customer requests with speed and efficiency, as live data is directly accessible from the shop floor. Visual instructions help workers assemble parts the right way from the first try, reducing operator errors.

Operators have a clear view of build time and quantity expectations, which has led to a 20% increase in build-time productivity on the shop floor since the implementation of digital work instructions.

The software system also helps with workforce training. The user-friendly interface guides employees through digital training checklists to facilitate the process. A combination of pictures and job assembly directions serve as training guides for every work process on the shop floor. New employees can use them to get familiar with a building process, and veterans can refresh their memory.

Shop floor managers can restrict untrained personnel from accessing specific guidebooks through a certification feature. Along with increasing control on the shop floor, this feature helps to decrease the assembly line’s defect rate.

A critical step to ensuring full compliance with customer requirements is the ability to pull data in relation to specific product builds. The North American facility uses scanners to record bar codes and input torque values into the digital instructions. This helps Aurora report quality data to customers quickly while building an internal record on the tools and parts used during each assembly job. With visual, real-time KPIs accessible to all decision-makers anywhere in the world, the company can trace efficiency with specific work orders.

By switching to digital work instructions, Aurora has tapped into lean manufacturing principles by standardizing best practices, reducing waste, and increasing efficiency. Going digital has allowed the company to reduce its carbon footprint while maintaining high quality standards.