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ELSEWEDY ELECTRIC is one of the largest manufacturers of electrical products and service providers for the industry in North Africa and the Middle East (MENA).

Elsewedy Electric has an annual turnover of $2.9 billion. The corporation focuses its production capacity and resources on five key areas of business:

• wire and cable products;
• electrical products and auxiliary equipment;
• engineering, construction and renovation;
• smart solutions (energy management, communications, organization management, etc.);
• investment and infrastructure development (production, logistics, energy and water supply, etc.).

Elsewedy Electric is the market leader in using new technologies to improve productivity. Its facilities produce 350,000 tons of cable annually at 12 different enterprises. The company manufactures a wide range of cable accessories, explosion-proof equipment, insulators, winding wire and plastics. They are made at 5 different plants throughout Africa.

The holding is a partner of national energy institutions in the Middle East and Africa, as well as for global companies: ENEL, Vodafone, Leoni and Orascom.

Background, concept, challenges

Elsewedy Technology, Elsewedy Electric's key digital project curator responsible for its project activities, selected the Clobbi World team among other competitors such as PTC and SoftWarw AG. The project was aimed at monitoring and analyzing technological parameters for job orders.

Despite already having a system for planning and automatic data collection from equipment controllers, the customer was unable to establish end-to-end communication between several automation levels. The solution provider was supposed to implement the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) system, ensure integration with the corporate ERP system, and develop a specialized web application for equipment operators.

The decision to select Clobbi World as the executor of the project was largely based on the team’s competence, experience and scope of implementing projects at industrial enterprises in Eastern Europe and Asia.

IIoT project roadmap

Phase 1: Ensuring reliable online data collection from sensors and controllers of selected equipment, synchronization and proper data storage.

Phase 2: Providing integration and stable data exchange with the corporate ERP system. Setting up online monitoring of the process for job order performance, comparing operational modes and actual data with planned values, setting up information panels, charts, diagrams, etc. Primary analysis of operational data and issuing reports. Training of the Elsewedy Technology team.

Phase 3: Support of the Elsewedy Technology team while scaling the IIoT solution to other pieces of equipment.

Solution

Today, it is a standard practice for companies to deploy Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) systems simultaneously with the launch of new production projects.

Most companies are not satisfied with their current level of business processes coordination. They acknowledge the need to obtain accurate real-time data to make effective management decisions.

The IT-Enterprise / Clobbi World team was involved in developing a single informational ecosystem uniting 3 factories and over 350 pieces of equipment. The project objectives were met within 6 months.

Lite MES application

The partnership with Elsewedy Technology has resulted in a state-of-the-art Lite MES application providing synchronization of digital tools for order processing, production planning and job order performance:

• registration of each productions operation’s time and its comparison with actual technological parameters;
• registration of length/quantity;
• registration of packaging/drums/coils/reels/containers, etc.

The project team established cross-cutting links between several levels of production automation:

• equipment controllers;
• IIoT (online data exchange between systems, human factor elimination);
• ERP (planning, management).

Process for online control of the holding's equipment:

• integrated the IIoT-devices of working mechanisms and assemblies with the available ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning).
  
  
• conducted a digital transformation of the process for the issuance and control of job orders.
  The client completely abandoned paperwork when issuing job orders to operators at their work centers.
  
  
• the company made a transition to 100% use of mobile devices for immediate job order accounting on the shop floor. Operators receive and process the necessary information on their tablets, right at the workplace.
  
• set up channels for collecting analytics for business process control centers.

IIoT adoption is the first step towards creating a single Industry 4.0 platform and revealing growth areas.

The global Industry 4.0 platform will help Elsewedy Electric create an online production management mechanism able to drill down to the operations at each work center. Such capabilities allow companies to respond as quickly as possible to all changes, deviations, delays and process constraints, as well as optimize operational schedules in time and issue realistic tasks. All this promotes maximum compliance with customer requirements. The company will also get an objective picture of the weaknesses and growth areas of its production.