TPBI Public Company Limited, a leading producer of flexible packaging and films in Thailand, has been in partnership with W&H since 2005, starting with the installation of its first blown film line, followed by two more in 2008 and 2017. In 2021, TPBI integrated RUBY Go into their production, connecting it to three VAREX machines. With ongoing support from the Technical Sales and RUBY team, TPBI has maximized the benefits of RUBY Go over the past three years, enhancing production efficiency and improving communication across departments.
Enhancing data automation and gain more insights
With RUBY, TPBI wanted to improve data automation and gain deeper insight into its production processes. Prior to RUBY, the company struggled with a fragmented data flow, but now production is not only automated, but optimized. The platform is widely adopted across all departments, serving as a vital tool for monitoring and internal communication between production, engineering, R&D, and quality management teams.
RUBY Go is a tool for monitoring and internal communication between production, engineering, R&D, and quality management teams Photo W&HRUBY Go provides real-time access to machine parameters and production data, including detailed overviews, process data, trends, and alarm logs, which are regularly displayed on large screens during production and management meetings. This visibility has significantly improved transparency and traceability, enabling better decision-making and more efficient operations throughout the organization. TPBI is satisfied with both the performance of RUBY and the exceptional customer service, which have amplified the platform‘s benefits. RUBY has become integral to TPBI’s daily operations, playing a key role in their continued success.
RUBY Go simplifies problem solving and saves time
TPBI was facing a recurring issue where the running film web would oscillate briefly and miss a cut by the slitting knife, resulting in a quality issue. The problem occurred randomly, requiring engineers to spend long hours – often 4 to 8 – observing the machine in hopes of catching the issue in action. This not only consumed valuable time but also left the root cause undiagnosed for extended periods.
With RUBY Go the process has been made much simpler. Instead of waiting for the issue to recur, the production team could immediately access machine data from RUBY’s trend page when the problem occurred. By analyzing key data points such as bubble size changes, the team quickly identified a malfunction in one of the ultrasonic bubble sensors. Thanks to RUBY Go, the engineering team could solve the problem without the need for prolonged on-site observation, saving significant time and resources. RUBY’s ability to provide real-time data and trends ensured that both production and engineering teams worked together efficiently to resolve the issue quickly.
“RUBY Go allows us to perform faster root cause analysis, reducing downtime from 10% to 0.5%. This has been key in keeping our operations running smoothly and efficiently,” says Surasit Dechvilai, Engineering manager of TPBI.
This article is republished from the W&H EMAGAZIN, first published 16 January 2025.
