Wieland

Largely used in electronics, copper is the third most consumed metal in the world. In today’s digitally connected society, very few things work without it. Sought after for its high thermal and electrical conductivity and malleability, copper is found in everything from smartphones, computers and televisions to vehicle engines, air conditioners, and refrigerators.

As one of the world’s leading copper and copper alloy specialists, Wieland plays a critical role in developing innovative and sustainable new technologies. Copper and copper alloys are 100% recyclable and therefore sustainable. Copper is also at the cutting edge of global electrification and digitalization, with which Wieland’s products and applications are paving the way for a low-carbon economy.

As Wieland helps to develop the next generation of sustainable, innovative technologies, it is entering new fields such as electromobility, expanding its production capabilities and working to offer its customers a high degree of flexibility. For example, the company produces patented and flexible copper rotors for three-phase asynchronous motors and high-voltage components for e-mobility applications, insert molded in plastic. Wieland also delivers high-precision shunt resistors to support customers in the development process and offers an extensive value chain that ensures reliable deliveries.

To retain its competitive advantage and adapt fast to its customers’ needs, Wieland must have the best production planning and scheduling capabilities. In the past, the company relied on several individual planning systems, but it wanted to consolidate its processes on one system. Wieland found the answer in DELMIA Quintiq.

For Wieland, DELMIA Quintiq delivers the industry-specific planning and scheduling functionality it needs, packaged within a flexible, scalable and user-friendly solution.

“The increasing demands on our production planning led us to look for a flexible and modern software solution,” said Stefan Zach, senior director of Global IT Business and Production at Wieland Group. “Our requirements were also centered on scalability and integrating the application into our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Manufacturing Execution System (MES) landscape. It was important for us to deploy software that already offers standard functionality for the metal industry, but which could also be supplemented with Wieland-specific features. These requirements were fully met by DELMIA Quintiq.”

Wieland created an internal team of business consultants and developers to develop and maintain DELMIA Quintiq – adapting it to suit the company’s long-term needs.

“We are convinced that the needs-based expansion of standard software offers advantages, supporting us to tap into market potential. It enables us to better meet customer-specific requirements and to remain competitive in terms of quality and adherence to deadlines.”

Wieland has successfully moved from production planning using spreadsheets and individual planning systems to real-time interactive planning using a modern graphical user interface. Changing production schedules is now much faster and easier.

“DELMIA Quintiq Scheduler delivers order scheduling transparency and enables us to identify optimization potential around compliance with important key planning figures such as adherence to deadlines and stock development,” said Elmir Coralic, Manager of Global IT Planning. “The system enables us to simulate various scenarios and we only finalize planning decisions once we find the optimum result.”

Wieland has developed a routing generation solution, too. This helps to plan various production flows involved in the making of complex products while taking constraints and delivery due dates into account. These capabilities are critical as the company continues to expand and looks to balance capacity across its plants.

“The integration of new companies is linked to the rollout of our central and standardized ERP, MES, and DELMIA Quintiq solutions,” Zach said. “DELMIA Quintiq supports us to check capacity and material availability in different plants, which are geographically dispersed but technically capable of producing the same product. Taking into account the customer’s requested deadline, we can use it to compare various alternative plants and offer our customers the best possible service.”

DELMIA Quintiq’s modern user interface is transforming Wieland’s planning processes. Planners gain a clear overview of the supply chain at all times and can clearly see the potential impact of each situation or action as they carefully balance customer requests and deadlines.

“DELMIA Quintiq users appreciate its graphical user interface and take advantage of various elements such as its GANTT chart to work more productively,” Coralic said. “Different jobs can be scheduled in the best order using a drag and drop function. The effect of individual planning decisions on setup times and other dependent orders is made immediately apparent and can be quickly interpreted by the planner.”

As it looks to the future, Wieland’s strategy roadmap includes other planning criteria such as energy and personnel.

“Our ambitious sustainability goals and rising energy costs demand we find starting points for reducing energy consumption in plant planning,” Coralic said. “We aim to identify further areas of potential with DELMIA Quintiq, particularly in the energy-intensive foundry sector. We also intend to integrate personnel in our planning process. In capacity and sequence planning, for example, the availability and training of personnel should be taken into account for order planning.”