Expansion aims to automate Continental's hose manufacturing plant in Quebec

GRANBY, Quebec—Continental A.G.'s ContiTech division has completed a project at its hose factory in Granby that makes production there largely automated.

In addition, the firm's Industrial Fluid Solutions business unit has launched an enhancement to its distributor program in North America that offers "unique opportunities for enhanced collaboration, commitment and growth," according to Guy Enta, vice president and head of the Americas region for the IFS business.

Enta described the Granby investment as a "several million dollar" project to drive improvements in quality and productivity. The factory produces large bore industrial hose that is used in such applications as petrochemicals, mining and resource markets that require heavier duty, heavier gauge products with higher working pressure.

"The thing that's impressive at Granby is the work we've done to have that plant be truly connected," Enta said. "To have those processes connected within the plant using this technology ultimately will allow us to have that transparency to our customer.

"It's pretty darn close to being a full Industry 4.0 factory."

The genesis for the addition of robotics and automation to Granby dates back to a ContiTech management forum in the middle of 2016. That is when Conti's "Smart Solutions Beyond Rubber" strategy was launched for the division, said Andreas Gerstenberger, ContiTech executive vice president and head of the Industrial Fluid Solutions global business unit.

Enta said the factory connectivity was up and running by the end of 2018, with the new automation technology installed and de-bugged before recently becoming fully operational. Before the project, the plant had some automation in place but still was very dependent on the "craftsmanship of building hose," he said.

"We were very much dependent on the quality of our operators, which is still true today," Enta said. "But now we have total visibility on screens within that plant and we know what's happening on every one of those production lines."

The monitoring technology also helps enhance the safety of the plant's operators, as well as in such areas as material handling. "With the newest automation we've been able to put in state-of-the-art material handling and robotics to No. 1 enhance the safety for our people within the facility, and No. 2 to improve productivity and quality."

Gerstenberger said the investment helps the Granby facility make significant strides in all of these areas. "It gives the process of producing the product, which is in heavy use, with far more stability," he said. "And that leads to higher quality and less variances, which automation does."

He added that what makes the achievement even more impressive is the rubber industry isn't necessarily the first industry thought of when discussing automation, because it can be a difficult material to work with in an automated process.

Enta said the big transition came with the Smart Solutions Beyond Rubber approach. Before, he said business gathering such as the recent NAHAD annual convention were more about what new products hose producers were launching. But now that is transitioning to more discussions about what solutions companies like Conti can offer its distributor partners.

Gerstenberger added: "It is really a change from a product-driven industry to a more solutions-based industry. And the solution can be mechanical, but it's more and more also a digital, smart solution."

New distributor program

ContiTech's Industrial Fluid Solutions unit's enhanced distributor program became active July 1 in North America, but eventually will be expanded globally for the IFS business. Enta said the "Elite" program is available to all of the firm's distributors who meet the program's requirements.

"It goes into all kinds of different aspects of how we do business with each other," Gerstenberger said, "but also how do you develop business together and the commitment level. It's almost like a partnership where you long-term define and work on the same or similar goals."

The IFS unit's distribution network is vital to the business' success, particularly in North America, Enta said. "We see a great opportunity to have an even more elevated distributor program to a group of partners who really want an enhanced commitment level, an enhanced cooperation and collaboration to grow each other's businesses," he said.

The unit has been working on the new distributor program for more than a year, and it comes with measurements of success and milestones. Enta said the top criteria is a more transparent sharing of information by both parties.

"We really want to try to understand the distributors' business more so we can be more reliable at supply and at products we bring to the market for those key partners," he said.

After the expanded level of sharing comes an enhanced level of commitment to each other, the ContiTech official said. "If we're going to go lock-step strategy hand in hand and we're going to agree moving forward, we're going to attack certain markets, we're going to commit with inventory and we're going to commit with manpower, as we would expect the distributor to do as well," Enta said.

The program also will focus on how Conti and the distributor partners can work together to drive cost savings within the operations of both sides, as well as take advantage of digitalization wherever possible.

"We want to try to figure out how we truly network as partners to be extremely cost-effective and be extremely market-effective," he said. "We have to be fast, we have to be connected and we have to be agile to participate. If we don't have that elite partner of choice team to go with us, we don't feel we can participate effectively in this revolution."

The enhanced program, he added, was vetted through the business unit's distributor team, and the team that developed the proposals included two distributors.

Crimper update

The cloud-based CrimpIQ controller that ContiTech unveiled at NAHAD's 2018 meeting drove double-digit increases in traditional equipment sales since its inception, according to Enta. The firm also launched its retrofit kit, so the controllers can be added onto crimpers made before the new technology was available.

The crimping technology enables the firm to provide customers with instantaneous updates to the crimper, reducing costly downtime while boosting efficiency, safety, quality and speed at customer operations, Conti officials said. It was developed with Custom Crimp, a crimper manufacturer based in Valparaiso, Ind., that ContiTech purchased before the rollout.

"The important idea is the network," Gerstenberger said. "It is being connected and getting information when you need it. It's updating when it's time to update. It's paper free. It will make the life of an operator by far easier, safer and more convenient."

Enta said feedback has been fantastic, and that drove ContiTech to accelerate the development of a service crimper that is smaller than a production-size crimper and is aimed at end users that do crimping in the field.

Following the CrimpIQ's 2018 introduction in North America, the technology was introduced in Europe earlier this year.