Renault factory wins World Economic Forum award

The Renault plant in Curitiba, Brazil has been recognised as being one of the leaders that make up the World Network of Flagship Factories of the World Economic Forum. The factory received this recognition for its application of technologies arising from the 4th industrial revolution.

The Renault Curitiba factory, consisting of 5,500 employees, is the first automotive industrial site in South America to receive this label from the World Economic Forum. The Renault site was rewarded for completely connecting its supply chain to customers from start to finish in the drive to achieve this level of excellence.

Each year, the factory uses RFID tags to track the 290,000 vehicles manufactured annually from the moment the order is placed until delivery. This has reduced shipping times by 30% and increased delivery punctuality by 95.4%.

10,000 units were also sold through an online digital platform that allows order supply and production data to be shared with customers in real time.

In terms of the automation of the process, the 200 tablets used by the heads of departments as well as the deployment of more than 230 Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) have helped to improve the working conditions of employees and reduce non-added value.

The Renault Group are currently rolling out the same transformation across its entire production network, which comprises 13 logistics sites in 16 countries and nearly 73,000 employees in 40 factories. Currently, more than 70 Industry 4.0 technology projects are being deployed at each site.

According to Renault and Alliance Director of Industry 4.0, Eric Marchiol, strong management support is essential to successfully deploy the production network worldwide.