MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE: POWERED BY INDUSTRY 4.0

‘Downtime’ is one of the most dreaded words in manufacturing. While downtime is part of life in a factory, managers, operators, and technicians constantly strive to reduce it and mitigate its effects. When manufacturers have a decent understanding of their operation, usually this downtime is accounted for as "planned" downtime. Planned downtime is the expected and predictable time required for changeovers, setups, tool changes, routine machine maintenance, and other tasks....

Did your team finish all the work that was planned for this week? Many KPIs are used in manufacturing to track production efficiency, quality, labor utilization, capacity, waste, and more. These KPIs help managers understand how the operation is running and what they can do to improve. The more accurate the tracking and data, the more valuable the KPIs are to those who need them. The measurement of schedule attainment should be included in the mix to give leaders an...

There are a few core measurements that every manufacturer uses to manage their operation. Measurements like efficiency, productivity, capacity, labor, and equipment utilization are almost universally measured to benchmark performance and assess the effectiveness of processes. Quality is an equally critical metric that must be a part of an overall assessment of business health. Because measurements like efficiency and productivity don’t necessarily mean high quality,...

Precision manufacturers can now monitor collaborative robots from Universal Robots in real-time to drive automation that improves performance and reliability. NORTHAMPTON, Mass., September 6, 2022 -- MachineMetrics, the leader in machine connectivity and production analytics for manufacturers, today announced the availability of their Connector for Universal Robots (UR) to easily connect to and capture valuable data from any equipment from UR. This latest connector, now...

What Separates MachineMetrics from Other Production Monitoring Solutions? Understanding that machine monitoring was only part of the solution, MachineMetrics developed its machine monitoring system to function as a machine connectivity platform. This approach recognizes the limitations of standard, or even "next-gen" machine monitoring solutions and enables greater value attainment by functioning as a foundation for continuous improvement. With automated production...

Things move quickly in manufacturing. People, materials, machines, and other components are constantly in play with changeovers, unit production, repairs, and other tasks to keep production processes running efficiently. Managing these fast-paced environments requires accurate data in the form of production reporting. These reports help keep things on track by allowing decision-makers the opportunity to use production data to make decisions on the go. They also help...

Today is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for manufacturers to capitalize on the reorganization of the global supply chain. To do so, Manufacturing today is undergoing a significant transformation from manual “Lean” systems to connected systems that rely less on human interaction. Yet, most factories still have disconnected operations. Machines are disconnected from the people who operate them and the systems that manage day-to-day operations.  Simply put, The tools of...

Expanded offerings enable manufacturers to drive frontline worker productivity and factory systems with real-time machine data. NORTHAMPTON, Mass., June 21, 2022 -- MachineMetrics, a leader in machine data collection and production analytics for manufacturers, today announced the availability of new features that expand the ways in which the solution connects to and captures machine data. Additionally, powerful new automation capabilities enable manufacturers to eliminate...

Manufacturing is a costly endeavor. Labor, raw materials, indirect overhead, and capital equipment are all large cost centers, and optimizing them is a goal of any manufacturing company. But one thing stands out among those costly line items. While all these areas have room for process improvement, machine utilization can make or break all the others. The scary part: The average manufacturer has a utilization rate of just 28%! With poor machine utilization, labor and...

History has shown that technology often flips the script on a particular headache. Fifty years ago, most people had three channels on their TV, and the complaint was that there was nothing interesting to watch. Fast forward to now: there are hundreds of channels and multiple streaming services. People have so many options it's hard to find something they like among the ocean of choices. Manufacturing's relationship to data has been similar in many ways. Companies have always...