Background
Kohler's Hattiesburg, Mississippi plant manufactures small gasoline engines at high volume for consumer outdoor power equipment, including engines used in residential riding mowers and similar products. The plant runs multiple assembly lines combining automated and manual operations, supported by conveyor and traceability systems designed to keep production moving quickly and consistently.
IVC Displays supplies the industrial touch screen computers Kohler uses as the operator interface end to end across the plant floor, from initial assembly through sub assembly, test, and final production stages.
The Challenge
High volume small engine manufacturing runs on tight takt times, and in that kind of high paced environment, uptime is not a convenience. It is the difference between hitting daily production targets and falling behind. A touch screen failure at any single station along the line has the potential to stop that station's output and, depending on where it sits in the process, ripple into the stations around it.
Kohler needed a consistent operator interface platform that could be deployed across many stations plant wide, engineered specifically for the uptime and system reliability that continuous, high paced production demands, not general purpose computing hardware pressed into an industrial role it wasn't built for.
The Solution
IVC Displays supplies the industrial touch screen computers that serve as Kohler's standard operator interface across the Hattiesburg plant, giving operators a consistent, dependable way to interact with equipment at every stage of production, from assembly stations through sub assembly, testing, and final checkpoints.
By standardizing on the same rugged, industrial grade touch screen platform end to end, Kohler's plant floor gains a uniform, dependable operator experience at every station, backed by hardware built for the uptime and reliability a high paced manufacturing environment requires.
Results
- Plant wide consistency. A single, standardized touch screen platform serving as the operator interface from end to end across the manufacturing floor.
- Uptime and reliability. Industrial grade hardware built to keep pace with a high speed, high volume production environment without becoming a point of failure.
- A dependable manufacturing technology partner. Touch screen computing hardware suited to the demands of continuous, fast paced engine production.
Looking Ahead
IVC Displays continues to supply the industrial touch screen computers behind Kohler's plant wide operator interface, helping keep production running reliably at the pace high volume small engine manufacturing requires.
