Enterprise Visibility - The Bigger Picture

“We’ve got all the data in one form or another – we just can’t use it because it’s not in a usable format. At a shop floor level problems can easily go unnoticed leading to nasty problems downstream. At an enterprise level we know the big problems, but drilling into the next level of detail to do something about it is nigh on impossible.”

Does this sound familiar to you?

Wouldn’t it be nice if your systems highlighted the problems for all to see and supported it with data you could drill into to see what should be done about it?

"With Shopfloor-Online our key processes are much more visible. This visibility gives everyone the ability to instantly see how we are performing. They can drill into the data, they can access the data from anywhere, and at last all our data is being analysed and compared in a consistent way."

Peter McAnaney - Quality Manager, ThyssenKrupp Tallent Chassis

Let's turn the LIGHTS ON!

If there’s only poor, fragmented, out-of-date information to work with, it’s no wonder problems go unnoticed. How many times have you said “If only we’d known...”?

The data in manufacturing operations is distributed across paper, spreadsheets, various computer applications and databases, measuring systems, SCADA systems – the list goes on. It’s fragmented, inconsistent and inaccessible.

Living with this state of affairs is a way of life. The sad thing is that it is an accepted way of life! But with a Lighthouse MES Factory Information System it doesn’t have to be.

An internet browser is all that is needed to see instantaneous data whether that be a particular point in the manufacturing process or at a global level from any of your manufacturing locations, anywhere in the world.

Fully deployed throughout your plant, Lighthouse's Shopfloor-Online provides visibility of the entire production process, collecting and presenting data that’s immediate and accurate – and available to every member of the team.

It goes a step further than this because it supports exception-based management – you trust the system to spot the problems, the system alerts you to the issues. It’s a fundamental change in the way the production process is managed, and the payback is potentially huge.

Shopfloor-Online does the critical analyses in real time and displays the information in a highly visual graphic format that mimics the process. Anyone anywhere on the shop floor can see what’s happening – if a machine icon turns red and an alarm is activated they can take immediate remedial action. Operators can also see that a problem at their station might be a result of an issue in another part of the plant.

Shopfloor-Online software also eliminates the errors associated with piece-meal and manual-based data capture. There might be many aspects to monitor from quality data, to downtime, to spoilage, and valuable time is often lost before the information can be assembled in a form that can be acted upon.

The trend is to move decision making closer to the process, to empower the operators. To facilitate this we must give them the tools to show them where the problems are and to help them resolve them. We need to move from the culture that allowed excuses for not having the data.

At a management level you need the confidence that the ownership is there and the responsibilities are being met. You need visibility to be reassured that the empowerment is working. Shopfloor-Online exposes everything; the total transparency has a powerful effect on everyone involved in production.

The availability of consistent and accurate information greatly improves the quality and speed of decision making and planning. The list of other benefits is mouth-watering too. They include reduced cycle times, reduced downtime, reduced spoilage, improved quality, higher OEE, faster product release and massive time savings, thanks to things like slick reporting and automatic customer certificates.