Case Study
How Agfa Graphics Cut Work-in-Process 60% with TrakSYS
Person-hours required per unit of production dropped 45% at the Suzano plant between 2012 and 2014.
Work-in-process fell 60% over two years as real-time visibility replaced guesswork on the floor.
Typical lead time dropped by 24 hours, with setup times down 25% plant-wide.
The TrakSYS solution provided by HSI has delivered an accelerated rate of ROI realization that has allowed Agfa's offset printing plate production plant in Suzano, Brazil, to significantly improve its performance. The Suzano plant is now distinguished among the Agfa Graphics factories around the globe.
The Company
Agfa Graphics is a world leader in prepress solutions, supplying commercial, newspaper, and packaging printers with wide-format inkjet printers, digital plates, and workflow automation software. With more than 4,000 employees across 40 countries, Agfa Graphics is among the largest plate assortment providers in the world, producing analog, thermal, visible-light, and chemistry-free digital plates for a wide range of printing applications.
As product demand grew, Agfa Graphics needed a way to optimize efficiency and integrate with the complex workflows already running at its offset printing plate production plant in Suzano, Brazil. The team brought in Parsec Automation, LLC certified partner, HSI, to design and implement a TrakSYS rollout suited to the plant's existing infrastructure.
The Challenge
The Suzano plant lacked real-time visibility into its own operations. Disparate implementations across the plant meant there was no consistent way to track production and quality, and without real-time metrics and data, the team had no efficient way to catch problems as they happened rather than after the fact.
The Solution
Working with HSI, Agfa Graphics architected a TrakSYS solution built to integrate with its existing PLCs and SCADA infrastructure, extending the value of equipment already on the floor while supporting Lean, Six Sigma, 5S, and Total Productive Maintenance initiatives already underway at the plant.
TrakSYS gave the Suzano team access to real-time data, so operators and managers could act on production issues as they happened rather than after the fact. The platform also helped reinforce Single-Minute Exchange of Die and Lean principles to reduce setup times, and supported the Jidoka approach to manufacturing by enabling fast troubleshooting and minimizing downtime.
The Impact
Utilizing its TrakSYS deployment, the Suzano plant cut typical lead time by 24 hours and reduced work-in-process by 60% over two years. Person-hours required per unit of production dropped 45% between 2012 and 2014, setup times fell 25%, and scrap was reduced by 4%.
The real-time metrics TrakSYS provided also supported a new employee incentive program built around live performance data, distinguishing the Suzano plant among Agfa Graphics facilities worldwide.
See Exactly How it Works
Get the full case study, including Agfa Graphics' TrakSYS solution architecture and results from the Suzano plant.
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