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Downtime

Drive improvement with machine and production downtime analysis

 

Powerful downtime analysis reports to accurately track machine downtime and reduce losses

Downtime is a major concern for most manufacturers; a lost capacity that can never be regained. All too often, machine downtime is manually recorded on paper and with poor accuracy, which makes it hard to analyse or drive improvements. Use the Downtime software module of Shopfloor-Online MES to:
  • Automatically capture start and stop events and downtime reason codes by direct connection to machines
  • Alternatively capture stoppages manually where no machine connection exists
  • Increase visibility of stops and react faster 
  • Drive improvements based on accurate analysis of machine downtime and downtime losses
 

Accurate machine downtime data

  • Automatically record downtime events and fault codes in real-time direct from PLCs
  • Get accurate durations for stoppages
  • Alternatively, manually record machine downtime duration stop reasons, typically at the end of each shift or production run
  • Dual-mode – have some processes collect data automatically and others manually
  • Invest in automatic data collection for analysis that will lead to feasible gain and the benefit of a plant-wide unified recording system

Add-On data capture PLCs

  • Where you can’t take data from existing equipment, Lighthouse Systems’ support team can install inexpensive ancillary PLCs to capture downtime 

Record downtime reasons

  • Create your own two tier hierarchy of downtime categories and reasons for each type of process
  • Additionally classify all stops as one of: breakdowns, technical (related to equipment and process), quality, operational issues, unplanned stops (e.g. material shortages, man-power-shortages) or planned stops (e.g. planned maintenance, change-overs)

Detailed reporting and analysis

  • Analyse stops by factors like process, machine, line, department, shift, crew, downtime reason, product etc. 
  • Reports can be run ad hoc or scheduled, or can be used to generate email/SMS alerts 
  • Pareto charts for downtime analysis – top 10 losses
  • Production downtime trends
  • Gantt charts for downtime analysis
  • Analysis of short and long stops
  • MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) and MTTR (Mean Time To Restore)

Continuous Improvement

  • Identify the top downtime losses and drill into the causes
  • Use as part of a monthly review process, helping you to identify issues and sustain the gains you make
  • Reduce downtime losses – downtime is usually the biggest factor in OEE, even small improvements in up-time have considerable impact on the bottom line 
  • Visibility – through plant-wide visibility on downtime with live dashboards
  • React faster – to get production running again
  • Reduce losses – enable improvement decisions to be based on real data
  • Build up a detailed history of downtime events for analysis – know where the real losses are and where to focus
  • Gain insight – for example the hidden cost of short stops
  • Continuous Improvement – identify common problems and focus improvement activities

Enhance Downtime analysis by combining other modules from Shopfloor-Online MES:

  • Production Counting, Waste and OEE – to generate real-time OEE reports and other KPIs
  • Repairs – use breakdowns to trigger repair requests to speed up response from maintenance
  • Labour – know the labour used, calculate KPIs like productivity