Optimizing Efficiency for World's Largest Composite Cans Manufacturer
Sonoco, the world's largest composite can maker, was automating lines with robotic cells and needed live control of operations. iSERV went live in five weeks with monitoring, predictive maintenance, service management and a knowledge portal.
- Client
- Sonoco, world's largest composite cans manufacturer
- Industry
- Packaging
- Solution
- ITHENA Smart Service (iSERV)
- Scope
- Performance monitoring, predictive maintenance, service management, knowledge portal
- Headline result
- 45% less equipment downtime
Three numbers the robotic cells moved.
Results after iSERV went live on Sonoco's automated lines.
Rapid deployment
iSERV was deployed across the robotic cells in five weeks.
Improvement in efficiency of maintenance operations
Organised case logging and a knowledge portal made maintenance teams more efficient.
Reduction in equipment downtime
Predictive KPIs for critical equipment cut unplanned downtime.
Meet the organization and understand the context behind the transformation.
SONOCO is the world’s largest manufacturer of composite cans, tubes, and cores, serving the food and beverage industry. With facilities across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America, SONOCO is automating its production lines using Robotic Cells. To achieve its automation goals, SONOCO needed a packaged solution to reduce downtime, increase throughput, and improve OEE by gaining control of its live operational data.
ITHENA’s performance monitoring solution iSERV built on Rockwell Automation’s IoT platform has enabled SONOCO to remotely monitor Robotic Cell performance, track production metrics against planned numbers, and receive detailed Shift performance reports. With its robust data collection and business intelligence suite, the solution has helped identify error patterns, significantly reduced error analysis and resolution time, enhanced operational efficiency, and lowered maintenance resource needs, greatly supporting our automation initiatives.
– Scott Wyatt, Sr. Director – Automation, Reliability, & Machinery Manufacturing
Automated lines without live control.
Remote monitoring was missing, alerts were not unified and equipment KPIs could not be predicted.
- Absence of remote monitoring hindered effective system performance tracking and continuous improvement
- Lack of a unified platform for real-time insights and alerts, limiting proactive maintenance and decision-making
- Inability to predict critical equipment KPIs, resulting in higher unplanned downtime
- Disorganized case logging and task management slowed internal team response times
- No centralized digital knowledge repository for troubleshooting, extending resolution times
- Decrease in overall plant productivity and efficiency
How ITHENA closed the gaps.
ITHENA implemented iSERV solution that enabled the client with:
Performance Monitoring
Real-time visibility into asset performance contributed towards continuous monitoring. Delivered persona-based dashboards for reporting, proactive alerts, and alarms to support maintenance operations
Predictive Maintenance
Digital logbooks and checklists streamlined records. Automated inspections ensured consistent evaluations. Condition & schedule-based maintenance reduced unplanned downtime optimizing the production efficiency
Service Management
Integrated ticketing & case management made it easier to log, and prioritize service requests. Service operations including customer onboarding, technician scheduling & routing were streamlined
Knowledge Portal
From a content hub offering training materials, How-To videos, and mechanics schematics, to the ability to raise service requests through tickets, iSERV offered self-servicing at customer's fingertips
Robotic cells, under control.
An illustrative iSERV view: robotic cells on the can lines monitored live, with predictive maintenance cutting downtime.