Waltham, MA, USA, June 16th, 2021 – Light & Strong, a manufacturer of advanced composite parts for the aerospace and defense industry, deployed Plataine’s AI and IIoT based software to optimize and automate its operations. The new solution will deliver significant reductions in material waste, as well as improved quality assurance and faster production times. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Lohia Group.
The Plataine solution Light & Strong deployed, uses AI algorithms and IIoT sensors to deliver significant material savings by reducing waste and ensuring better utilization of material remnants and short rolls. Additionally, the automation of inventory management, as well as material condition monitoring, reduces human error and frees up the valuable time of skilled workers for other production tasks. The technology will integrate seamlessly with Light & Strong’s existing systems to deliver advanced and automated material and inventory management across the facility – monitoring all composite material automatically in real-time from the moment it enters the factory, moving in and out of freezer units, delivering significant benefits to operations.
Plataine’s AI-based software streamlines the entire monitoring process and selects optimal materials autonomously. The system’s dashboard gives full visibility of all available material rolls, including their defrosting status, and the exposure time left (ETL) on each roll or remnant. It is also aware of all production variables on the shop floor, therefore, it automatically calculates ‘in and out’ of freezer times and selects the most appropriate material for the job.
The system also analyzes the production schedule to spot opportunities to use up material remnants, further optimizing material yield – and it has the capability to manage thousands of production jobs at a time if needed. Additionally, Plataine’s software maintain a Digital Thread – a fully digital record of the entire production process. This means that if a material batch is later found to have been defective, it is possible to instantly identify which kits were affected and remove them from production, slashing the cost of poor quality (COPQ) at Light & Strong, and ensuring they are always audit-ready.
Uri Orbach, CEO of Light & Strong says: “We chose Plataine’s solution to reduce material waste in our facility to zero. Plataine’s technology will save us a significant amount of time and money annually. The solution helps facilitate and shorten production procedures, improves quality control, and allows precise, automated calculation of material shelf-life and expiration. Our production employees love the technology, and after they had tried it were adamant that Light & Strong should adopt it. The system was up and running within one month and we now look forward to further cooperation with Plataine in the future: the next step is to implement their solution in our facility in India.”
Avner Ben-Bassat, President and CEO of Plataine, adds: “Light & Strong are a trusted supplier for the Aerospace and Defense industry’s most demanding clients. We are excited to provide our innovative cloud-based software to support their operations and maintain their competitiveness in the market. The Plataine solution will help Light & Strong automate their production processes, eliminate paperwork and reach higher levels of efficiency.”
About Plataine:
Plataine is the leading provider of Industrial IoT and AI-based optimization solutions for advanced manufacturing. Plataine’s intelligent, connected Digital Assistants take manufacturing to the next level by automating and optimizing decision flows on the production floor. Combining state-of-the-art AI with extensive manufacturing knowledge, Plataine’s cloud-based solutions continually assess current status and predict future events on the production floor, to provide actionable insights, alerts and recommendations, empowering production management and staff to make optimized decisions in real-time, every time. Plataine enables global manufacturers to drive digital transformation and further increase the business value they generate from our offerings.
Plataine’s patent-protected technologies are used by leading manufacturers worldwide, including Airbus, GE, IAI, Triumph, Renault F1® Team, Stelia North America, Alestis, Enercon, TPI, Kaman, IFS and Ethan Allen. Plataine partners with SAP, Siemens PLM the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing, and CTC GmbH (an Airbus Company), and is also a part of the UK National Composites Centre (NCC) membership network, to advance the ‘Factory of the Future’ worldwide.
For this work, Plataine has received a Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan and Innovation Awards from the JEC and CompositesUK organizations. Plataine is ISO 27001 certified for compliance with information security management requirements. For more information, visit: www.plataine.com.
About Light & Strong
Light & Strong is a specialist composite parts manufacturer focused on creating advanced components for demanding clients in sectors such as defense, UAVs, aviation, and construction. The company was specifically established to become a technology leader in the composite parts sector and, to achieve this, it has assembled a highly experienced and accomplished team. Recently, Light & Strong was acquired by India’s Lohia Group. For more information, visit www.light-and-strong.com.
