From the mixing plant to final inspection faytech® Touch PCs as HMIs in production at Wallstabe & Schneider

Wallstabe & Schneider GmbH Co. KG has been developing and manufacturing high-quality precision seals for the automotive and commercial vehicle industries, as well as other sectors, for more than 60 years. The company employs 750 people at its headquarters in Niederwinkling and another 350 at five locations outside Germany. Founded in 1960, the company is family-owned. Its outstanding achievements have been recognized with the “Großer Preis des Mittelstandes ” award. Since 2019 , Wallstabe & Schneider has been using faytech® touch PCs and touch monitors —a Pyramid —in its production . Roman Kufner, IT administrator, speaks with Pyramid the benefits of this hardware for the medium-sized company.

PYRAMID:
Hello, Mr. Kufner! Wallstabe & Schneider manufactures precision seals. In which industries are they used?

Kufner:
Our seals are installed in virtually every type of car: diesel, gasoline, and electric. We also serve other industries: building services, electrical and electronics, transportation, medical and healthcare, and defense technology. Our products are used in the hydraulic pumps and electrical sensors of ships and aircraft.

PYRAMID:
Where exactly do you use our faytech® touchscreen PCs?

Kufner:
We have these panels installed on virtually all of our machines, starting with the mixing plant, which prepares the elastomer materials for the seals. The manufacturing process itself is carried out using injection molding, which we also control with faytech® hardware; the same applies to the post-processing of the blanks and their cleaning in large washing machines. Last but not least, faytech® panels are also installed in the departments that perform final inspections of the seals, either manually or automatically.

Your touch devices are used not only in Germany across the entire production line, but also at the sites in Bulgaria and China. Mexico is expected to follow suit soon.

PYRAMID:
What processes and workflows are controlled using the touchscreen PCs?

Kufner:
We use an Industry 4.0 application across all departments. It displays all the important information to employees at each machine: What is the scope of an order? What are the next orders for the machine? What is the fill level of the mixing elements?

The touch panels also serve as an HMI system for controlling the machines. The operator uses them to start, pause, and stop the machines.

Another use case is the collection of operational data generated by the machines. In the past, employees had to do this at a separate terminal. To minimize the distance employees had to walk, we had set up several so-called production data acquisition stations on the production floor. Today, data is collected directly on the faytech® touch PC at the machine via the Industry 4.0 application. Overall, this results in significant time savings for both the company and its employees.

We also use the touchscreens to display employee training materials and operating instructions. Our company uses the faytech® terminals for a variety of use cases, which means we need far less hardware than in the past and can thus streamline our processes significantly.

PYRAMID:
Did you Pyramid have a supplier for your touch devices before Pyramid ?

Kufner:
Yes, we had used panels of the same display size from other manufacturers. However, we found their design to be less than ideal. In addition, they had relatively few ports. All in all, these drawbacks made it difficult for us to install the panels on the machines.

So we started looking around and came across Pyramid Computer GmbH its faytech® product line. At first, we purchased the panels through distributors. After successfully testing them for the first time in a production department in 2019 and wanting to roll them out further, we switched directly to Pyramid.

We were impressed not only by the sleeker design and the numerous I/O ports, but also by the optical bonding. The displays reflect significantly less light than the previous models and produce a much brighter and clearer image that is much easier to see.

PYRAMID:
We often receive feedback like this about optical bonding. In this process, the air in the gap between the LCD panel, touch panel, and cover glass is replaced with a transparent liquid adhesive, which offers numerous advantages. For example, condensation and dust inclusions are no longer possible. And as you just mentioned, the process contributes to excellent image quality.

Kufner:
Another feature we’d like to highlight is the durability of the devices. The previous panels were sensitive to drops and impacts. The edge protection on the faytech® systems does an excellent job here! We’re also very impressed with the devices’ temperature resistance. We use tempering furnaces to process the blanks, which exposes the touch PCs to very high temperatures.

PYRAMID:
We use a patented rubber frame design to protect the edges and reduce glass breakage. We designed faytech® Touch PCs specifically for harsh environments. For example, we have a customer who uses them to control production at his foundry. The demands on the hardware there are also very high, partly due to dust. One last question: How has your experience working with our team been so far?

Kufner:
We’re extremely satisfied! Whenever there were driver issues—as happened once or twice in the past—we received a response within hours with links where we could download everything we needed.
The Pyramid portal is also helpful. When we have questions, we create tickets and receive quick responses. We can view, comment on, cancel, and close tickets. For us, this is a very convenient and efficient way to communicate.

Another advantage is what's included in the package: Every touch PC comes with a power adapter. The same applies to Wi-Fi antennas, if needed. No additional purchases are necessary.

PYRAMID:
Thank you very much, Mr. Kufner, for the informative and pleasant conversation.

Kufner:
You're welcome! We look forward to continuing to work with you.