Equipment breaks, team members make mistakes, and your operations get thrown off course. You can’t foresee every possible hiccup on your factory floor, but in the 21st century, you certainly can get close to seamless operations. Achieve manufacturing excellence by collecting and analyzing production data in the most efficient ways possible. The question remains: Are manual processes the way, or is there room for improvements from technology?
Let’s dive into how to improve your operations, where manual and digital processes meet, and what you could lose by standing still.
How Do You Automate or Improve Operations?
When companies question how they can improve their operations, we think of one thing: the digital factory. To improve your operations and achieve manufacturing excellence, digital factory operations can make a world of difference. Technology has opened up a whole new world. Factories can now connect all of their operations and machinery, providing accurate measurements to reveal improvement areas—from recalibrating or repairing machinery to retraining staff on processes.
Worximity’s Smart Factory Analytics
By using data analytics systems like Smart Factory analytics, teams can achieve manufacturing excellence by identifying strengths and weaknesses in their production system. Real-time data insights about uptime, downtime and bottlenecks provide actionable ways to optimize OEE. As problems emerge, teams can take corrective action, helping you boost profitability, identify and eliminate bottlenecks, increase throughput, deliver fast ROI, and more!
Data Collection and Downtime Tracking
Your operations need to run consistently—sometimes around the clock. When they don't—or can’t—you need to know why. Data collection through tools like Tileconnect helps you keep a finger on the pulse of your machinery.
- Event mode measures cycle time, setup time, and downtime.
- Count mode measures production speed, number of rejects, and downtime.
Over time, the system records trends in your operations, sending insights to dashboards that reveal recurring themes in downtime—from the machinery affected to reason codes and timing.
Real-Time Dashboards
By having real-time information to refer to throughout the production process, teams increase their productivity 10-20 percent. Real-time dashboards like the custom options inside Tile+ enable workers to quickly recognize and respond to issues, maximizing your efficiency.
- Real-time information collected by Tileconnect and generated via Tile+ dashboards identifies critical performance issues to refocus team priorities and efforts.
- Dashboards provide options to configure KPI alerts based on specific triggers and generate KPI insights for team members to respond to in real time to increase efficiency and avoid losses.
By making your factory a Smart Factory, you can get a better understanding of hits and misses in your operations, with specific insights into why your staff or machinery may be lagging behind.
Where Do Manual and Digital Processes Fit Best?
Manual processes are always necessary to some degree, and they provide valuable insights. But they only give managers a general idea of production activities, and at a certain point, your operations need something more.
Manually collected might be gathered in various ways depending on your staff. But this variability raises questions, such as:
- How much time and money do we spend to hire and train staff for these operations?
- Are there significant staff hours required and wasted on tasks we could be doing digitally?
- How many recording errors are staff members making?
- How are reporting and analysis delays affecting production speed and delivery deadlines?
- What else could technology monitor and provide insights on?
This is where digital automation can provide savings and fill in key information gaps to contribute to your continuous improvement plan. By switching to digital processes through systems like Worximity’s Smart Factory analytics, you get a clearer view of your strengths and weaknesses, plus your operations see near-immediate benefits. For instance:
- Operating costs are lower compared to manual-only systems.
- Automatic data collection includes broader elements, processes, and operations.
- Real-time data brings immediate insights for teams to use to quickly pivot their activities.
- Dashboards and analytics reports reveal otherwise-unseen improvement opportunities.
Sluggish reporting, information inaccuracies, and limited metrics available from manual data leave operational gaps. Smart Factory analytics spotlights opportunities for improvement so you can create and implement continuous improvement plans.
Do More Resources Mean Greater Efficiency?
The more information you have to work with, the more effective you can be. Digital automation helps you achieve manufacturing excellence because analytics and real-time data combine to show the forces that both propel and hinder factory floor efficiency.
Digital factory tools like Smart Factory analytics measure quality, throughput, efficiency, and a whole host of essential metrics so your team can better plan improvements to maximize productivity. Collect data in real time to inform decision-making, and take advantage of cloud-based storage for historical analysis to improve your OEE and pivot to reduce downtime or equipment inefficiencies.
Bypass the Costs of Inaction—Go Digital
By relying solely on manual processes and analysis in your factory, you miss out on opportunities to achieve manufacturing excellence and maximize your potential. Remember, manual processes have several drawbacks:
- Higher operating costs due to more human labor
- Slower operations and analysis
- More mistakes caused by human error
Avoid these issues by trusting proven technologies and processes to highlight what’s working and what isn’t. Worximity’s Smart Factory analytics suite provides the tools and features you need to achieve your goals. Get in touch with an expert and download our Smart Factory Analytics E-book to learn how to make your factory a Smart Factory.
