Case Study: Manufacturing Quality Assurance Mobile App

The Challenge

A worldwide leader in carbon fiber production approached the TD MASH development team to build a mobile app that enables shop floor operators to scan each spool of carbon fiber before adding it to the production line. This ensures that the fiber is within the correct specifications for the product being made and helps prevent production errors and eliminate waste.

Manufactured carbon fiber varies, and each tow, a spool of carbon fiber, has slightly different characteristics. The purpose of this app was to provide a way of checking the tow before it was loaded into the production line.

To do this, the bar code on the tow needed to be scanned and checked against information from the factory. This gave operators the ability to scan a tow and receive instant, easy-to-read feedback. Additionally, the app needed to collect information about usage and notify managers of real-time changes.

The Solution

The TD MASH development team partnered with the client’s internal IT department during the mobile app creation process. We developed the mobile app and procured Android mobile devices with integrated bar code scanners from Zebra Technologies.

These devices are used on the shop floor by operators and are also used in the warehouse to check in shipments of tows from the manufacturing plants. The bar codes on the warehouse shipping containers enable the solution to preload the tow information from the international locations, making the app more responsive and protecting it from international internet connectivity issues.

The mobile app also includes an internal website that collects the scanning information and creates specifications for different types of planks to be manufactured for different reasons. You could think of these as recipes for the manufactured material.

Technologies and platforms used include:

Android
NativeScript
.NET C#
Zebra TC21 Handheld Scanners
Razor
Entity Framework
SQL Server

The Result

This project is a good example of the range and depth of experience we bring to clients. Many shop floor automation solutions are closed and linked to specific hardware, but this manufacturer needed an open solution that worked with their data, which was different in each country, their bar code standards, which used many different code layouts, and an administration portal that met their specific needs.

Many mobile app development companies could provide one of these solutions. Few could provide all of these solutions at once.

Biggest Win

The use of the scanners decreased instances of incorrect tows being used and reduced the amount of produced materials being discarded because they were out of specification. This provided a financial gain for the company.

The implementation of a multi-tiered data environment allowed us to create a system that communicated with international databases over unreliable connections while still maintaining rapid response for the operator.