Ahrend is a Dutch company which produces and sells well thought-out office-furniture products in two different factories in the Netherlands. In these factories, Ahrend creates complete working environments, where quality, care and attention to its products, people and environment are at the forefront. Ahrend Furniture Offices and Showrooms are found all over the world (e.g. United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Germany, Russia, Australia and many more...). At present, Royal Ahrend has more than 1,250 employees worldwide.
Ahrend makes various furniture products for the following sectors:
Ahrend production plant in St.Oedenrode, Netherlands
Visualization window with a seven-day production overview
Above, one of the visualisation screens used in the factory is displayed. This particular screen provides information about the last 20 production runs. It shows the amounts of different products that are made with start and stop times. This cabinet-production line is a production line which makes carcasses for different types and dimensions of cabinets. In the background, Reliance is interfacing between the PLC and the Production Information System. The PLC tells Reliance what type of cabinet is being produced at what time. Reliance passes this information to the Production Information System. An Excel report is generated on request for tracking and tracing purposes.
Visualization of a heat exchanger
The other visualization screen shows a heat exchanger. Cold ground water is pumped up from a well deep underground. After being used by the heat exchanger, it is further used in the production process to cool the metal department. By using the pumped water for different goals, Ahrend saves half of the water needed every year.
Country
Netherlands
Name
Visualization and control of furniture-making production lines in the Ahrend company
Implemented by
Ahrend productiebedrijf St. Oedenrode
Date
2006
Control System
Festo PLC
Festo IPC
Software
1 x Reliance Runtime Server
1 x Reliance Runtime Control
6 x Reliance J
