On November 9, 2017 a team of engineers, IT experts (Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG / ITQ GmbH, SF) and students (Technical University of Munich, Aalen University, University of Vienna) has presented the new production facility for the digital water meter DWM at Lorenz GmbH & Co. KG. By using agile methods, the previously manual production was automated step by step in order to prepare for increasing challenges in the future.
As a first step, a clear separation into production meter and electronic meter was made. Here, a so-called “Late Stage Customization” was implemented, which enables a customer- and order-specific printing of meter and electronics meter on demand. With particular attention to the requirements of Industry 4.0., the production system possesses a buffering so that even smaller orders up to lot size 1 can be operated very quickly.
