Strix Wireless Mesh Network Deployed Throughout Honda Engine Plants in China

CALABASAS, Calif.--

CORE NEWS FACTS

• Dongfeng Honda Engine Co., Ltd. (DHEC), a joint venture of Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Honda Motor Co., Ltd., is deploying Strix Access/One® Indoor and Outdoor Wireless Systems (IWS and OWS) to provide strategic, facilities-wide wireless access throughout eight plants in Guangzhou, China. DHEC is deploying the network as part of its new system for automated manufacturing and operations.
• DHEC is responsible for the development, manufacture, and sale of car engines and transmissions and their parts; it also provides after services. These products are mainly used in the Accord, FIT Saloon, and Odyssey car series made by Guangzhou Honda. DHEC also supplies engines to Guangzhou Honda Automobile and Dongfeng Honda Automobile. The company’s yearly manufacturing capacity is 360,000 engines and over 480,000 sets of spare parts.
• Strix IWS and OWS products are installed in several DHEC plants, including Honda’s main automobile engine factory, the engine assembly facility, and the automobile casting plant. The company’s project offices will use a complement of IWS and OWS products to provide a secure, high-performance, enterprise-class wireless network infrastructure for plant workers, managers, and executives. Strix Access/One solutions enable fast and cost-effective deployments, removing the need for physically wiring the plants, which would interrupt the time-sensitive 24x7 manufacture and assembly process.
• Strix Gold Partner eSolutions Tech Co., Ltd., provides the software and hardware that enables manufacturing and operations automation over DHEC’s Strix Access/One mesh network. eSolutions’ system enables stationary and mobile connectivity with the ability to track DHEC’s automobile product quality information system and implements enterprise resource planning (ERP), a manufacturing execution system (MES), a warehouse management system (WMS), service logical circuit plan systems, bar code and data acquisition systems, the wireless network system, and the axle bush select and matching system.
• The Strix indoor and outdoor mesh network deployment is a critical component of the real-time, Oracle-based process control and data collection system developed by eSolution. Strix products connect the ERP and the process control systems and enable the exchange of data collected from fixed or mobile data terminals in manufacturing plants. This new installation provides access to critical supply, manufacturing, and operations information. The previous wired infrastructure limited users’ ability to access this information in a timely manner. The combination of Strix IWS inside and OWS outside the facilities creates a seamless mesh throughout and across all locations, thus enabling process monitoring, stock control, and components tracking.
• The wireless real-time control systems enabled by Strix enhance automated manufacturing and quality control and help reduce manpower costs by increasing people’s ability to resolve problems that may occur. Where previously an individual would have to sit at a terminal to monitor certain processes, now he or she can look at live networked data and video information from the floor. This ability also reduces the response time for resolving problems.
• In conjunction with DHEC, eSolutions reviewed and tested technologies provided by other leading manufacturers; they found the Strix multi-radio Access/One IWS and OWS were complementary to their objectives. All other vendors had limitations ranging from difficult configuration and parameters that were not right for the installation, to unstable topologies and extremely low performance. In contrast to other products, Strix’s Access/One delivered the stated performance and flexibility, offering simple and automatic configuration while providing the highest throughput and most resilient and versatile performance.

COMMENTARY

• Alvin Ma, Vice President of Business Development, eSolutions Tech – “The real-time business intelligence system we’ve developed for Dongfeng Honda takes threshold-based logic and applies it to process control systems and more. Strix IWS and OWS are critical components in the manufacturing, assembling, automation, and monitoring processes. We commend Strix because its products are a benchmark of wireless network performance and reliability for this industry.”
• Jim Mooreland, Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Strix – “This is a major win for Strix Systems. DHEC is certainly a well-respected name in the automotive industry, and this deployment emphasizes how a wireless mesh network can be a critical component of complex supply, manufacturing, and operations processes.”