ZF – Manufacturing

The future of production begins on the shop floor. Learn how the digitalization of shift scheduling paves the way for efficiency and productivity.

Background

ZF is a globally active technology group and supplies systems for the mobility of passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial technology. In 2022, the Group generated sales of €43.8 billion with around 165,000 employees worldwide. The company is represented at 168 production sites in 32 countries.

The technology group is currently in a major digitalization phase for the shop floor in order to tap into new efficiencies. Manual shift planning, which was time-consuming due to its complexity and the framework conditions that had to be observed, was identified as one way of increasing efficiency.
In order to achieve greater flexibility in shift planning, the company decided to introduce an automated solution to digitalise the shop floor and pave the way for a smart factory.

ZF IMG Montage Electric Axle Drive Getrieberaumpruefung Leckage Schweinfurt 2

Challenge

Manual processes proved to be very time-consuming and error-prone, which led to high costs and inefficient processes. Particular care was required for tasks as complex as creating a shift plan for thousands of employees. Unforeseen events or changes also meant that additional time had to be spent on shift planning. Without a digital solution, it was not as easy to obtain and analyse real-time data to make decisions based on up-to-date information. This made the planning and coordination of working hours, machines and resources more time-consuming and led to inefficiencies in processes.

Solution

Manual processes have been replaced by AI-supported shift planning software from shyftplan. Digital shift planning makes it easier for around 4,000 ZF employees to plan their working hours and resources, which reduces the workload. Employees can access their data via private smartphones, which contributes to the smart factory. The intelligent solution integrates with SAP for automated planning and monitoring of working time laws. The digitalisation of shift planning plays a crucial role in protecting employees and complying with regulations. It increases the efficiency and productivity of production and enables further digital optimisation on the shop floor at ZF.