Mobile maintenance with OPRA facilitates machine maintenance at DANA Incorporated – successful GoLive at the Györ (Hungary) and Neu-Ulm (Germany) plants.

In the plants of the globally active automotive supplier DANA Incorporated, production units are now increasingly networked via sensors. Predictive maintenance, as enabled by OPRA, is a key vehicle for achieving the goals of such Industry 4.0 scenarios. Therefore, when the Hungarian DANA Hungary Gyártó Kft. based in Györ implemented the SAP module EAM (Enterprise Asset Management – formerly Plant Maintenance) – one year after the general SAP introduction – the SAP-integrated solution OPRA for maintenance and service management from DATAGROUP was also introduced in the same breath. Its mobile use in particular is proving to be an enormous advantage in the day-to-day work of the maintenance staff. OPRA complements the SAP EAM system with its user-friendliness, process orientation, seamless integration of third-party systems and enables a functional and visual integration of assets, people, processes, data and systems in SAP.

At the Hungarian plant, maintenance staff used to work with Excel lists and paper forms to record faults on their machines and carry out maintenance. In May, SAP EAM and the latest version of OPRA went live – four desktop applications for the employees in the back office, who can use them to create operational planning and reports with the most important key performance indicators, as well as the mobile version OPRAmobile with three apps for the approximately 15 maintenance staff outside at the machines. DANA commissioned DATAGROUP with project management, conception, implementation and customer-specific further development. The implementation was completed within four months. After the plant in Györ, OPRA was also rolled out to the plant in Neu-Ulm and put into production.

Capture Real-time Mobile Feedback

The maintenance staff use the solution for complete machine maintenance, maintenance planning, and support for setup and tool exchange processes. They can enter feedback, reserve or remove spare parts, and view historical data on repairs or maintenance for each technical system or machine in real time. The 100% integration in SAP enables a smooth data exchange with other SAP modules such as warehouse, purchasing, production or controlling. The maintenance department can also enable external staff to use OPRA in order to avoid additional work due to duplicate data entry and to maintain data quality at the highest level.

With the current version of OPRAmobile, maintenance staff are provided with a number of additional processes and tasks on a mobile basis. Specifically, they work with three new apps: Via “OPRAmobile Technical Master Data” they can query relevant master data or historical data on a technical object, view current orders and notifications with object reference, use relevant documents and videos or install and remove equipment. In “OPRAmobile notifications” new notifications are created and existing ones are available for editing. “OPRAmobile Orders” covers the complete process of mobile order processing and feedback.

Enormous Difference to Pure SAP EAM

Anja Scheibner-Weiss, Business Analyst in the IT Department of DANA Power Technologies at the Neu-Ulm site, was closely involved in the implementation in Hungary and Neu-Ulm. “The difference between mobile app and the previous work in the pure SAP GUI is enormous,” she explains. “There are many more steps in the ERP system: You have to create a notification about a malfunction, turn it into an order and then create a confirmation. OPRAmobile combines these steps into one. And above all, the maintenance staff can initiate them on their tablet while standing directly at the machine and transfer them, including photos, comments and associated documents, to SAP EAM.

In contrast to other sites, there is no strict separation of maintenance and production in the plants; the maintenance staff therefore also take on activities such as filling out checklists at the change of shift on the condition of an item of equipment (a machine or a tool) in accordance with regulations.

Anja Scheibner-Weiss: “This is particularly important for the audits required in the automotive supply industry. Without any media discontinuity, the maintenance staff send their start-up checklists to SAP with a digital signature. This makes it possible to quickly and reliably track which tool has been checked and is ready for further use.”

In contrast to the Hungarian plant, SAP EAM had already been in use for some time at the DANA site in Neu-Ulm. Here, the focus was therefore on simplification, process optimization and mobilization through OPRA. OPRA is 100% integrated with SAP, facilitates support and thus consolidates the strategic use of SAP in the company. Initial considerations for a strategic rollout in the DANA Group have already been made.