On STIWA Advanced Products’ high-speed assembly lines for the automotive industry, every minute of unplanned downtime comes at a cost. As staff often have a variety of tasks, the production team faced a constant challenge: how do you alert the right person the very moment a problem arises, regardless of where they are in the production area?
The Problem with Fixed Monitoring Points
Traditional monitoring relied on staff checking terminals or being physically present near a line to catch a fault. On fast-moving assembly lines, this created a gap between the moment an issue occurred and the moment someone could respond to it. Rudolf Hötzinger, Head of Production at STIWA Advanced Products, points to the impact this had on daily operations: delays in noticing a problem meant delays in resolving it, which put both production targets and consistent quality at risk.
Bringing Alerts Directly to the Operator
To bridge this gap, STIWA Advanced Products introduced a smartwatch-based alarm system. Instead of having to monitor numerous terminals, individual alarms and real-time notifications are now sent directly to employees’ wrists, wherever they are in the production facility. Bernhard Kinast from the maintenance department at STIWA Advanced Products describes the impact: “The proactive notifications on the smartwatch are a significant improvement for our staff. Our response times have fallen by around 20%, which significantly reduces downtime and frees up our staff for other tasks.”
Real-Time Quality Data Where It's Needed
As well as faster alerts, the team gained a real-time view of quality inspection results across the entire production network, which could be viewed on Andon boards, shop floor monitors or the very same smartwatches that staff were already relying on. This meant maintenance staff and production managers no longer had to wait for manual records to know where things stood. Rudolf Hötzinger explains how this changed daily decision-making: „Thanks to the real-time updates we receive, I can make faster decisions to keep production on track. The fact that the system status and quality data are immediately visible on the entire production line has reduced delays, and we can ensure consistent quality.“
Fewer Disruptions, More Consistent Output
With current data available at a glance instead of relying on outdated or manually recorded information, the team at STIWA Advanced Products, can now adjust processes instantly to prevent disruptions before they escalate. The combination of instant alerts and real-time quality data has become a core part of how the assembly lines maintain both uptime and quality standards, even as production speeds remain high.