Industries
Software for the automotive industry — from assembly planning to the line
Planning effort in the automotive industry keeps growing: new technologies, a broader vehicle range and numerous variants in smaller volumes. SABO IT develops the applications used to plan assembly lines, check them and compare them with reality — for Audi, whose dpa won four design and innovation awards.
Challenges
Typical challenges
Planning data sits in unconnected systems
Information has to be collected, reconciled and transferred manually. That takes time and risks inconsistencies between systems.
Planning and reality drift apart
What’s in the system doesn’t necessarily match what’s actually built on the line. The difference often only becomes apparent in operation.
Variants drive complexity
Vehicle variants, cycle times, material supply and equipment are interdependent — a change in one place affects several others.
Planners work in parallel, at multiple sites
Production and factory planners with different responsibilities need to exchange information and share work in progress.
Services
What SABO IT develops for the automotive industry
Applications for assembly planning
For Audi, we built the digital planning assistant (dpa): a web application that planners use to set up assembly lines, assign work steps and keep track of capacity utilization, variants and dependencies.
Bringing together heterogeneous planning data
The dpa consolidates data that previously sat in several unconnected systems and presents it in a single interface. Even large volumes of data remain readable in a clear 2D layout.
Comparing planning with reality
With dpa LiveScan, planners use augmented reality to overlay planning data directly onto the real production line environment: planned racks, containers and workstations compared with the actual setup. The iOS app accesses dpa data via an HTTPS REST API.
Developed with users at the center
The focus was on an agile approach and consistent application of user-centered design principles: future users were involved from the start, and their feedback shaped the design in every iteration.
Awards
The Audi dpa has won multiple international awards
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German Design Award
2020
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German Innovation Award
2019
iF Design Award
2019
Red Dot Design Award
References
References from the automotive industry
Audi dpa
Web application for assembly planning · 2020
Audi dpa LiveScan
Augmented reality for comparing planning with reality · 2020
About us
Why SABO IT
In the automotive industry, we deliver applications that have to hold up in day-to-day planning — developed by interdisciplinary teams, delivered in agile iterations and co-designed by their users. You set the technology stack; we hand over everything created in the project in full. More than 60 IT professionals, software development since 1983, as SABO IT since 2012.
Let’s talk about your planning
Whether planning data from several systems needs to be brought together, plan and line need to be compared, or existing planning software needs to be replaced — describe the case, and we’ll tell you what can be done.
FAQ
What software do automakers need for assembly planning?
Applications for setting up assembly lines, assigning work steps and keeping track of capacity utilization, variants and dependencies. For Audi, SABO IT built the digital planning assistant (dpa), a web application for planning assembly lines, recognized with four design and innovation awards.
How do you bring together planning data from unconnected systems?
By consolidating it in a single interface. For this purpose, SABO IT developed the digital planning assistant (dpa) for Audi. It brings together data that previously sat in several unconnected systems and presents even large volumes of data clearly.
How do you compare planning with reality on the line?
With augmented reality. With dpa LiveScan, the planning data is overlaid directly onto the real production line environment: planned racks, containers and workstations compared with the actual setup. The iOS app accesses dpa data via an HTTPS REST API.
What is augmented reality used for in production planning?
For comparing plan and reality. Instead of comparing drawings with the setup on site, planners see the planned layout overlaid on the line. SABO IT developed this application for Audi as dpa LiveScan.
Who owns planning data and source code in external development?
At SABO IT, the customer does. The planning data stays in your systems, and whatever is created in the project — specification, documentation and source code — belongs to you. SABO IT develops in your technology stack.