Light & Strong deploys Plataine Shelf-Life Manager for optimized, automated inventory management

Light & Strong (Israel), an advanced composite parts manufacturer for the aerospace and defense industry and a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Lohia Group, recently deployed Plataine’s (Waltham, Mass., U.S.) AI and industrial internet of things (IIoT)-based software, Shelf-Life Manager — under the company’s Freezer Management software for inventory management— to optimize and automate its operations. The new solution is to deliver significant reductions in material waste, as well as improved quality assurance and faster production times. 

The Plataine solution Light & Strong deployed, uses AI algorithms and IIoT sensors to reportedly deliver significant material savings by reducing waste and ensuring better use of material remnants and short rolls. Additionally, the automation of inventory management, as well as material condition monitoring, enables Light & Strong to reduce human error and free up the valuable time of skilled workers for other production tasks. Plataine says the technology will integrate seamlessly with Light & Strong’s existing systems to deliver advanced and automated material and inventory management across the facility, monitoring all composite material automatically in real-time from the moment it enters the factory to its movement in and out of freezer units.

“We chose Plataine’s solution to reduce material waste in our facility to zero. Plataine’s technology will save us a significant amount of time and money annually,” says Uri Orbach, CEO of Light & Strong. “The solution helps facilitate and shorten production procedures, improves quality control and allows precise, automated calculation of material shelf-life and expiration. Our production employees love the technology, and after they had tried it were adamant that Light & Strong should adopt it. The system was up and running within one month and we now look forward to further cooperation with Plataine in the future. The next step is to implement their solution in our facility in India.”

Plataine’s AI-based software is said to streamline the entire monitoring process and selects optimal materials autonomously. The system’s dashboard gives full visibility of all available material rolls, including their defrosting status, and the exposure time left (ETL) on each roll or remnant. It is also aware of all production variables on the shop floor; as a result, it is able to automatically calculates ‘in and out’ of freezer times and selects the most appropriate material for the job.

The system also analyzes the production schedule to spot opportunities to use up material remnants, further optimizing material yield, and it has the capability to manage thousands of production jobs at a time if needed. Plataine says this software also maintain a digital thread — a fully digital record of the entire production process. This means that if a material batch is later found to have been defective, it is possible to instantly identify which kits were affected and remove them from production, slashing the cost of poor quality (COPQ) at Light & Strong, and ensuring they are always audit-ready.

“Light & Strong are a trusted supplier for the aerospace and defense industry’s most demanding clients,” adds Avner Ben-Bassat, president and CEO of Plataine. “We are excited to provide our innovative cloud-based software to support their operations and maintain their competitiveness in the market. The Plataine solution will help Light & Strong automate their production processes, eliminate paperwork and reach higher levels of efficiency.”