Stark Aerospace implements IIoT manufacturing solution by Plataine

Unmanned aerial systems manufacturer Stark Aerospace (Columbus, MS, US), a US-based unmanned aerial systems manufacturer, announced March 26 it has deployed Plataine’s (Waltham, MA, US) Industrial IoT (IIoT) solution to enable a major increase in production capacity while meeting demanding standards of quality and on-time delivery. The global defense contractor implemented Plataine’s Material and Asset Tracker (MAT) solution within two weeks to digitize, manage and optimize advanced manufacturing processes to the most demanding technical specifications.

Plataine’s solution provides factory staff with actionable insights & recommendations to improve the factory’s efficiency and streamline the entire manufacturing process. Sensors attached to production floor assets such as raw material rolls, kits, parts and layup tools, collect real-time data about assets’ location and status, and digitize Stark’s manufacturing processes, also enabling full traceability and auditability of the digital thread.

“Before we implemented Plataine’s solution, many of our manufacturing processes were manual-based. This worked fine while we were a smaller operation, but ramping up our production volumes required adoption of the latest IIoT technologies,” says Robert Naranjo, COO at Stark Aerospace. “Plataine’s automated and digitized our production floor while reducing quality issues, and will drive substantial savings of raw material. Additionally, the automation of repetitive manual processes has freed up significant amounts of time that our skilled engineering staff can now spend on productive tasks.”

Plataine’s solution quickly integrated with Starks’ existing IT systems, leveraging RFID tags that are attached to each moving asset such as composite materials, kits and parts. The tags allow for automated tracking of material shelf-life, ETL (Expiration Time Left) as well as roll’s location changes. When the materials are cut and used to create kits, Plataine’s application ensures that kits automatically inherit their “parent” properties creating full part genealogy and a digital thread. The solution provides managers with constant updates on asset location as well as sensitive material expiration dates and out-times until parts are cured, consequently minimizing material waste, increasing quality control as well as production speed.

Plataine’s AI-based algorithms draw on the company’s deep expertise in Artificial Intelligence to allow immediate identification of quality issues before escalating into bigger issues. The system triggers real-time alerts and actionable recommendations to managers and operators about material that is about to expire or about tools that require maintenance. This manufacturing advancement is a key part of Starks’ competitive advantage and its compliance with its customers’ requirements and the National Aerospace & Defense Contractors Accreditation Program (NADCAP) regulations.