AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS
From paper logs to a connected factory
Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) — Automotive Electronics. Industrial IoT platform, real-time production monitoring, QR-based traceability, SAP integration, and predictive-maintenance readiness across four high-mix SMT lines.
BUSINESS REQUIREMENT
What the client needed
Our client — the EMS division of a major automotive components manufacturer — runs high-mix, high-volume SMT production across multiple lines. The machines were modern, but the data around them wasn't.
WHAT WE FOUND
Findings on the ground
- Manual data capture: Line-level data — OEE, downtime, parts consumed — was captured by hand in Excel and on paper.
- Unrecorded changeovers: Changeovers every 10–15 minutes went unrecorded, quietly distorting utilization figures.
- Utilization blind spot: Reported OEE stood at 80%, while true utilization was closer to 60% — a 20-point gap that shaped daily decisions.
- Isolated inspection: AOI, ICT, and X-ray ran in isolation from production, so a failed board had no traceable path from failure to fix.
- Inventory recount tax: Teams spent 3+ hours every day manually recounting floor inventory before production could begin.
- No serial-level audit trail: Customer quality complaints could not be linked back through rework, test, inspection, and the exact component lots and consumables used.
WHAT WE DID
The engineering response
Rather than bolting on another point application, Mekosha Technologies, as lead solution integrator, deployed a unified Industrial IoT platform purpose-built for the plant's operations — connecting machines, operators, materials, and enterprise systems on one data backbone.
- Unified machine connectivity: Linux-based edge gateways connected networked and isolated equipment across four SMT lines, with lightweight agents capturing AOI, ICT, and X-ray images and metadata — without disrupting existing workflows.
- Live production dashboards: Line-wise views of machine state, OEE, changeovers, operator activity, and backlog — visible in real time across all lines and shifts, replacing manual end-of-shift calculation.
- QR-based lot-to-board traceability: Every incoming component pack receives a QR identity at inward entry, validated at the placement feeder — closing the loop from vendor lot to individual PCB serial number. Stencils, squeegees, and solder paste carry digital identities with usage cycles, cleaning intervals, and open-time clocks enforced by the platform.
- Station interlocks: A station-by-station interlock engine blocks forward movement past unresolved inspection failures, expired consumables, wrong components, or exceeded moisture-sensitivity clocks. Supervisor overrides are logged with reason codes and operator identity.
- Deep SAP integration: The platform reads production plans, purchase orders, and warehouse structures from SAP, and writes back goods receipts, inspection decisions, goods issues, and batch-level traceability — eliminating duplicate entry between shop floor and enterprise.
OUTCOMES
What changed
Machine data from all four SMT lines streams into a single platform with live dashboards replacing manual OEE reporting
Machine data from all four SMT lines streams into a single platform with live dashboards replacing manual OEE reporting.
3+ hours of daily manual inventory reconciliation engineered out of the pre-production routine
3+ hours of daily manual inventory reconciliation engineered out of the pre-production routine.
End-to-end serial-level traceability from supplier lot to shipped board
End-to-end serial-level traceability from supplier lot to shipped board, available on demand for audits and complaints.
Downtime, changeovers, and idle states classified automatically
ending misreporting that masked root inefficiencies.
Digital enforcement at every station against wrong-part placements
Digital enforcement at every station against wrong-part placements, expired-material usage, and inspection bypasses.
Foundation for predictive maintenance
Foundation for predictive maintenance, AI-assisted planning, and digital twin visualization on the same platform.
RELATED STORIES
AI Safety & PPE Compliance
Modular edge safety stack for elevated worksites — AI vision, smart fall-arrest harnesses, and UWB RTLS that intervene before the fall.
Read the case study →
One management plane for every endpoint — OpenIY MDM security programme
OpenIY MDM as the management plane for a regulated NBFC — five platforms, provable policy enforcement, and the trust anchor for patch, identity, and Zero Trust access.
Read the case study →Bring us a line, a fleet, or an audit finding. We'll bring the architecture.
A discovery workshop with our solutions engineers — your assets on a whiteboard, no generic pitch deck.