IoTFlows Blog
Know what every machine is doing and what to do about it.
Guides to OEE, downtime, maintenance and machine data, with formulas, worked examples and decision guidance you can use on your own floor.
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Machines and connectivity
How to run a four-week monitoring pilot
A monitoring pilot should prove three things before a plant-wide rollout: data your supervisor trusts, stops with reasons, and one decision made from the data.
Ulises Carrasco ·
Machines and connectivity
Rolling out machine monitoring with no IT team
Yes. Put sensors on a cellular router that never joins the plant network, or on a guest network. Compare the three paths, who does each step and what IT needs.
Mahmoud Parto ·
Machines and connectivity
How to find the real bottleneck on a packaging line
The machine that is stopped is often only waiting. Read the counts at each step to find which machine stopped the line first, and which one limits its rate.
Applications Engineering Team ·
Maintenance and reliability
How to cut maintenance response time
Response time runs from a machine stopping to a technician at it. Split it into four segments, time each one, and fix the one where your slowest stops wait.
Reliability Engineering Team ·
Downtime and utilization
Machine down alerts people actually act on
Set a warning and a critical time per machine from its own stop history, send each level to one person on one channel, and prune the alerts nobody acts on.
Reliability Engineering Team ·
Machines and connectivity
What is machine monitoring, and what does it measure?
Machine monitoring records each machine’s run state, part counts, cycle times, stops and health. See where each signal comes from and what a plant does with it.
Mahmoud Parto ·
Operations and lean
How to get operators to log downtime reasons
Put the picker at the machine, let rules name routine stops and act on reasons weekly. Targets for Other and unclassified time, with the method behind them.
Ulises Carrasco ·
OEE and metrics
Takt time, cycle time and lead time, with one example
Takt time is the pace demand sets, cycle time is what the machine measures, and lead time is how long work takes to get through. One station, worked two ways.
Data Analytics Team ·
Machines and connectivity
Measure the loss from mold and material changeovers
Mold and material changes cost every minute from last good shot to first good shot, purge included. Log them apart, price a week two ways, then pick a target.
Applications Engineering Team ·
OEE and metrics
Calculate OEE, availability, performance and quality, and choose the shop-floor numbers worth tracking.
All OEE and metrics postsTakt time, cycle time and lead time, with one example
Takt time is the pace demand sets, cycle time is what the machine measures, and lead time is how long work takes to get through. One station, worked two ways.
What cycle time is and how to measure it per part
Cycle time is how long one cycle really takes, timed at the machine. Learn which cycle to time, how to measure it per part and which figure to use for each job.
What is a good OEE score?
85% OEE is a TPM target, not a measured average. See where it comes from, what published data shows plants score, and how to set a goal from your own baseline.
Downtime and utilization
Measure how often each machine runs, find where the stopped time goes, and cut the reasons that cost the most.
All Downtime and utilization postsMachine down alerts people actually act on
Set a warning and a critical time per machine from its own stop history, send each level to one person on one channel, and prune the alerts nobody acts on.
Day shift vs night shift on the same machine
Night shift often makes fewer parts for reasons that have little to do with speed. Normalize first, compare four numbers, then tell staffing from support.
How to run a weekly downtime review that fixes causes
Put five blocks on one page, take the top reason down to a cause someone can change, and check each fix against a target set in advance. Worked example inside.
Maintenance and reliability
Plan preventive work, watch machine condition, and fix equipment before a failure stops the line.
All Maintenance and reliability postsHow to cut maintenance response time
Response time runs from a machine stopping to a technician at it. Split it into four segments, time each one, and fix the one where your slowest stops wait.
Detecting CNC tool crashes from shock events
Catch every CNC tool crash from the shock it sends through the machine: what a crash looks like in g, how to set the threshold and what to do after each alert.
When the production schedule leaves no time for PM
Book PM as a job on its machine so it takes capacity, time it to changeovers and weekends, price each deferral, and agree who decides when PM and orders clash.
Machines and connectivity
Monitor CNC machines, molding machines, presses and packaging lines, and get their data off the floor with sensors, MTConnect, OPC UA and ERP integrations.
All Machines and connectivity postsHow to run a four-week monitoring pilot
A monitoring pilot should prove three things before a plant-wide rollout: data your supervisor trusts, stops with reasons, and one decision made from the data.
Rolling out machine monitoring with no IT team
Yes. Put sensors on a cellular router that never joins the plant network, or on a guest network. Compare the three paths, who does each step and what IT needs.
How to find the real bottleneck on a packaging line
The machine that is stopped is often only waiting. Read the counts at each step to find which machine stopped the line first, and which one limits its rate.
Operations and lean
Schedule production, plan capacity, find the bottleneck, and cut changeover time and scrap using real production data.
All Operations and lean postsHow to get operators to log downtime reasons
Put the picker at the machine, let rules name routine stops and act on reasons weekly. Targets for Other and unclassified time, with the method behind them.
Job costing with machine and labor hours
Job cost is measured machine and labor hours at burdened rates, plus material and scrap. Work one job, quoted against actual, and fix the jobs that lose money.
Shift changeover losses and how to win them back
Shift change costs the stopped minutes on either side of each handover. Measure them against mid-shift, size a week on one machine, and pick the first fix.