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Digital Transformation Helps Taiwan’s Yuen Foong Yu Enter the Industry 4.0 Era

9/28/2020
Interview with Mingfa Tang, Vice President of Production Dept; Carl Chang, Vice President of Tissue R&D Center; Anchor Hung, Factory Manager of Yangmei Plant; Rex Chiang, Manager of Yangmei Plant; Daniel Hung, Engineer of IT Department; Sam Peng, Manager of CEO Office.


Entering Yuen Foong Yu’s toilet paper manufacturing plant in Yangmei, one immediately notices not only the background sound of machinery but also the dedicated employees working on carefully designed production processes.

The plant covers several hectares and hosts a dozen production lines for tissue paper products sold through general retail and commercial channels. At most of the production lines, employees manually record the equipment’s operational status with pen and paper. However, at one line, there are no employees observing production. Instead, a computer screen in a nearby office displays relevant production line equipment and data in an easily digestible visual format.

The dashboard is part of Advantech’s OEE solution that Yuen Foong Yu implemented to visualize production data from their 17 different types of equipment. It identifies critical issues affecting production efficiency, and devises plans to resolve issues.

New Industry 4.0 OEE solution

In almost a century history, Yuen Foong Yu is a company committed to innovation. While most traditional manufacturers are still debating whether to adopt industry 4.0 applications, Yuen Foong Yu has embraced smart technology in order to resolve a problem that has long affected the traditional manufacturing sector—labor shortages.

According to Carl Chang, Vice President of the Tissue R&D Center, management started planning for industry 4.0 applications as early as 2017, carefully deliberating on how to integrate IoT and automated technologies with existing production processes, connect channel needs with production plans, and build an automated warehouse system. Management even defined directions and processes with an eye toward industry 5.0.

Yuen Foong Yu defines industry 4.0 as cyber-physical systems (CPS) that connect various types of equipment through networks, smart sensors, and wireless technologies, allowing the virtual and physical world to be seamlessly integrated. Industry 5.0, meanwhile, integrates AI technology to process big data, realize cost reductions, improve efficiency and quality, and optimize production processes.

The first step Yuen Foong Yu took was implementing Advantech’s OEE solution, which features comprehensive software and hardware integration, in its Yangmei plant. On the production line, intelligent edge devices are used to connect with the production equipment’s control interfaces to acquire production-related data such as restocking times, equipment operation times, and stock inventory. Data is transferred to the OEE database via a gateway to process production volume (per shift, day, week, and month), production efficiency, downtime, and other indicators, which are then integrated on a dashboard for visualization and presentation on a large screen in the smart factory. Administrators can also remotely monitor production statuses in real time through their smartphone or tablet.

Sam Peng, Manager of the CEO Office explained that the company had built its own internal production management system called YES (YFY Excellence System)-before implementing Advantech’s OEE solution. This system was an overall management tool that covered aspects such as regulations, work safety, production efficiency, quality, and logistics management. Production management-related data such as availability rates and production efficiency were recorded and calculated manually by front-end staff before YES could do any further analysis. However, the system had its limitations, data was recorded manually and not processed in real time; there was a risk of human error; and there were only limited data types. So, Yuen Foong Yu decided it was time to implement Advantech’s OEE solution to improve the speed and accuracy of data acquisition and to gain access to, and learn more about the analytic applications on offer.

Transparent production data improves efficiency

Yuen Foong Yu discovered many blind spots in the production process. “The devil is in the details,” said Anchor Hung, Factory Manager of the Yangmei plant. He pointed out that major problems on the production line are often the result of an accumulation of minor issues. These minor issues are key factors that stand in the way of efficiency improvements. However, with traditional methods of manual data acquisition, it wasn’t possible to identify these issues, let alone solve them.

Rex Chiang, General Manager at the Yangmei plant, concurred with Mr. Hung and said that, “In the past, certain types of data could only be acquired after a production shift had ended. Advantech’s OEE solution, however, allows us to monitor status in real time, find defective equipment, compare the status of different shifts and products, and pinpoint areas for improvement.”

Yuen Foong Yu’s household and commercial tissue paper products include many brands, such as Mayflower, Tender, and Delight. When changing sku’s on the production line, onsite staff must adjust the base paper, packaging, and machinery. Traditionally, staff came up with a rough estimate for the time needed for such tasks. Now, the OEE solution precisely calculates the time required for preparation down to every single item in a production process. This allows Yuen Foong Yu to set production plans in a timely adjustment and find opportunities for improvement based on analyses of different processes and brands.

Intelligent transformation of traditional manufacturing

A wide range of industry 4.0 solutions are available on the market today. Yuen Foong Yu decided to collaborate with Advantech because of a common corporate philosophy. Both companies sought to bolster industry 4.0 development and promote upgrades and transformation in Taiwanese manufacturing as a whole. Yuen Foong Yu’s many factories offer an ideal environment to realize industry 4.0, allowing Advantech’s high-quality solutions to showcase their full potential. Yuen Foong Yu has experienced the benefits of working with an experienced enterprise such as Advantech, taking major steps forward in reducing costs and enhancing time efficiency.

According to Daniel Hung, IT department engineer, in the initial implementation of the OEE solution, the communication interfaces of the production equipment could not be upgraded. The company evaluated the situation and considered whether to spend more money on purchasing new equipment. With its extensive experience, Advantech advised Yuen Foong Yu to use a human-machine interface (HMI) terminal for data acquisition. This significantly reduced costs for Yuen Foong Yu in the long run. Mr. Hung noted that Advantech offers more than just products. Advantech is dedicated to helping customers upgrade and transform their existing systems. Advantech adopts their customers’ perspective to determine what is best for them. Initially, Yuen Foong Yu did not understand how to leverage data to identify opportunities and improve production efficiency. So, Advantech offered various ideas, took part in brainstorming sessions with Yuen Foong Yu, and interpreted available data. Furthermore, Advantech took the initiative to design an overall availability comparison chart for Yuen Foong Yu, which displays 17 process points simultaneously on the same page, allowing the administrator to have a clear overview of all data without switching windows.

“The Yangmei plant is only the starting point in our quest to realize the vison of smart factories. We want to use the experience gained here and replicate it in other facilities around the world,” commented Mingfa Tang, Vice President of Production Department. Yuen Foong Yu is not only expanding OEE applications to other production lines, but also implementing AI technologies to seek further improvement and innovation. It aims to play a pioneering role in Taiwan’s traditional manufacturing sector to achieve comprehensive intelligent transformation.