TiCon for Windows recently received an update. The established time management software for the MTM application on the Microsoft platform enables the integration of numerous modules such as Ticon Base, TiCon Takt, TiCon EAWS®, TiCon HWD®, TiCon Planungscockpit, TiCon Prokon, TiCon Time Study as well as TiCon Prozessdesign. With the update to version 4.08, the software solution comes with various innovations. They mainly concern the line balancing: Maximum line balancing with TiCon.
Many users of TiCon for Windows use the module Takt (version 2.0). It enables the optimization of the utilization of a production line by means of a takt. Thereby the operations are assigned to the different workers and stations of the line in such a way that they can be executed efficiently within the given takt time. Until now, there were the following ways to create a takt:
- Standard line balancing – The line balancing represents the production of a single product without variants.
- Mix line balancing – The line balancing represents the production of several different product variants.
The disadvantage with mix line balancing was that the amount of data increased with each additional product variant. This ultimately leads to a reduction in software performance. The team from the Digital Solutions business unit in Dresden then developed maximum line balancing.
Maximum line balancing automates the planning of product variants
In the case of maximum line balancing, the user now marks per WP (work procedure) whether this is required in the respective product variant or not. The individual variants, in turn, are marked as to which characteristics they consist of. The maximum line balancing then automatically detects whether the operation is required for this product variant. ”With maximum line balancing, TiCon offers a high-performance way to plan different product variants based on a production program in terms of the maximum variant and the average,” says Herwig Weidle, business unit manager for digital solutions. The team is continuing to work on automated support in order to meet customers’ requirements for more efficient planning.Other new features of TiCon for Windows 4.08:
- Current security technologies regarding encryption, database connection and passwords.
- Dependencies of operations in assembly lines and line balancing are defined: The sequence of AVOs can be specified in Takt 2.0 to ensure that they are balanced in one after the other in the correct order.
- Ergonomic risk analyses based on EAWS® now also take into account the use of exoskeletons
- Improved application and usability of the MTM-HWD® building block system: From now on, tool tips are displayed that provide the user with additional content via a small window.