Hamburg, Germany – August 2024 – A leading European EV battery manufacturer has reported a 32% reduction in production downtime after upgrading to the ABB PP886H 3BSE069297R1 HMI panel at its Hamburg facility. The upgrade, completed in Q2 2024, addressed critical pain points with the plant’s outdated control interface—including slow response times and limited visibility into battery cell assembly processes—that were costing the facility €220,000 monthly in lost output.
The Challenge: Outdated HMI Held Back EV Battery Scaling
Prior to adopting the PP886H, the Hamburg plant relied on a 10-year-old HMI system to monitor and control its lithium-ion cell assembly lines. The old panel struggled with three major issues:
- 10+ Second Response Delays: When operators tried to adjust compression force or temperature settings for cell bonding, the system lagged—leading to over 500 defective cells monthly as parameters drifted during the delay.
- Limited Data Visibility: The outdated interface could only display 2–3 process metrics at once, forcing technicians to toggle between 8+ screens to track critical data (e.g., cell voltage, conveyor speed). This made it impossible to spot bottlenecks in real time.
- Frequent Crashes: The old HMI crashed an average of 3 times per week, requiring 4–6 hours of downtime each time to reboot and reconfigure—delaying production of 1,200+ battery packs monthly.
With the plant ramping up to produce 15,000 battery packs per month to meet demand from German automakers, the HMI system had become a critical bottleneck. “We couldn’t scale production with a panel that felt like it belonged in the 2010s,” said Lena Schmidt, the plant’s automation manager. “Every delay or crash pushed us further behind on orders.”
ABB PP886H 3BSE069297R1: The HMI Solution for High-Speed EV Manufacturing
After evaluating three industrial HMI panels, the plant selected the ABB PP886H 3BSE069297R1 for its speed, flexibility, and seamless integration with existing ABB AC 800M controllers:
- Sub-500ms Response Time: The PP886H’s 1.8GHz quad-core processor delivers near-instant adjustments to process settings. When operators tweak cell compression force (a critical step to prevent overheating), the HMI updates the control system in under half a second—eliminating parameter drift.
- 15-Inch Multi-Touch Display with Custom Dashboards: The panel’s high-resolution (1920x1080) touchscreen lets technicians create custom dashboards showing 12+ real-time metrics (e.g., cell defect rate, line throughput) at once. “We built a dashboard for each assembly station that highlights issues in red—like a drop in cell voltage—so operators can act in seconds,” Schmidt explained.
- 99.98% Uptime: The PP886H’s rugged design (IP65-rated front panel, -20°C to +60°C operating range) and redundant power supply eliminate crashes. Unlike the old system, it hasn’t failed once in three months of operation.
- Easy Integration: The panel connects directly to the plant’s existing ABB control system via Ethernet/IP, requiring no custom coding. “Our team installed 8 PP886H panels across 4 lines in 2 days—we didn’t even need to shut down production fully,” Schmidt added.
Results: Downtime Plummets, Output Surges
Three months post-upgrade, the Hamburg plant’s metrics show transformative improvements:
- Downtime cut by 32%: Monthly downtime dropped from 144 hours to 98 hours, allowing production of an extra 3,600 battery packs monthly.
- Defect rate down 27%: Faster parameter adjustments reduced defective cells from 500 to 365 monthly, saving €43,000 in material waste.
- Technician efficiency up 40%: Custom dashboards eliminated 12 hours of manual data checking per week, freeing technicians to focus on preventive maintenance.
“The PP886H didn’t just fix our HMI problem—it turned our operators into problem-solvers,” Schmidt said. “They can see issues before they become failures, which has completely changed how we run the plant.”
Markus Weber, ABB’s global product manager for industrial HMIs, noted the PP886H’s relevance to EV manufacturing growth. “As battery plants scale, they need HMIs that keep up with fast-paced, data-heavy processes,” he said. “The PP886H 3BSE069297R1 is built for that—delivering speed and visibility that old systems simply can’t match.”
The plant plans to install 12 more PP886H panels at its Berlin facility, set to open in Q4 2024.
