Digital transformation for improved energy and product efficiency in tire production: a case study

Abstract

The concept of digital transformation has become increasingly significant with advancements in technology. In this study, digital transformation design and implementation were performed in a tire production plant to improve the product and energy efficiency for sustainable production. Initially, production data were obtained by implementing Shop Floor Control infrastructure. In the second stage, a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) was placed on the upper layer and connected to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software on the top layer. Cloud database technology was used for the MES and ERP layers, with servers located outside the plant and a side-to-side VPN providing a plant network connection. The automation architecture was designed for the end-to-end monitoring of the entire production site and was applied to the Banbury Unit. The performance data of the system were compared in terms of energy efficiency, product efficiency, and overall efficiency. The Banbury unit was used 15% more efficiently, recovering 2.4 MWh of energy daily with the proposed system. Additionally, the scrap product rate decreased by 5%, resulting in an annual cost recovery of $39,500.