Storm Power Components runs CNC machines, lasers, presses, polishing machines and chemical baths in Decatur, Tennessee. With SenseAi on its machines and BeamTracker on its baths, it doubled machine utilization, took bath timing errors to zero and now bases operator bonuses on measured performance.
The Challenge
Storm Power Components was scaling production to meet growing demand on top of manual tracking and operator memory. Nobody could see what the factory was doing.
- No machine visibility. Team leaders had no way to know which CNC machines, lasers or presses were running, idle or in trouble without walking the floor.
- Problems found late. Issues surfaced only after they had already cost production.
- Chemical baths run on memory. Metal parts go through acid baths to remove rust, scale, oil and oxides, prepare the surface for paint and coating, and restore corrosion resistance. Each bath has its own duration, and parts sometimes stayed too long or not long enough because someone forgot to move them.
- Unknown machine performance. There was no data on what each polishing machine produced, or how one compared with another.
- Scheduling by intuition. Machines were scheduled on gut feel rather than on how busy they really were.
- No operator accountability. Individual performance could not be measured, so high performers could not be rewarded.
The Solution
Storm Power Components put SenseAi on its machines and BeamTracker on its process steps.
SenseAi on the CNC machines, lasers and presses
SenseAi reads each machine's vibration and sound from the outside and decides running or stopped every second, with no PLC connection. See SenseAi.
Every machine's status, live
Team leaders see which machines are running and which are down on the Assets page, with each machine's uptime and utilization, instead of walking the floor to find out. A stop shows the moment it happens.
Operator performance per machine
Each operator's performance is tracked on the machine they run, session by session. For the first time, Storm could measure individual productivity, and it now bases operator bonuses on it.
BeamTracker on the chemical baths
BeamTracker records the exact time each part enters and leaves each bath, the actual time it spent there, and the average cycle time per bath, so the process standard comes from data. See BeamTracker.
Polishing machines compared
BeamTracker tracks the production rate of each polishing machine, so Storm can compare them, find the underperformers and spot a machine whose performance is degrading.
The Results
Machine Utilization Doubled
- 2x machine utilization since implementation
- Scheduling on real utilization data, with the workload balanced across the equipment by how it actually performs
- Real-time visibility across CNC machines, lasers, presses and process equipment, with issues caught the moment they happen
- Zero chemical bath timing errors: no forgotten parts and no wrong bath durations, with entry and exit times recorded for every part
- Performance-based operator bonuses, backed by each operator's measured performance per machine
- Growing demand met with the existing equipment
"SenseAi gave us eyes we never had before. Our team leaders can instantly see which machines are running, which are down, and identify issues immediately instead of discovering them hours later. That visibility transformed our ability to manage production."
Ben Huskey, Quoting Manager, Storm Power Components
How Storm Works Now
- Team leaders watch machine status through the shift and act on a stop as soon as it happens.
- Operators move parts between baths on BeamTracker's timing instead of memory.
- Managers review machine-level production rates to schedule the work and reward the top performers.
- Capacity planning starts from each machine's measured utilization.
The Features Behind It
- SenseAi on the CNC machines, lasers and presses, deciding running or stopped from vibration and sound. See SenseAi.
- BeamTracker on the chemical baths and polishing machines, timing every part and tracking each machine's rate. See Install and align BeamTracker.
- The Assets page, with every machine's live status, uptime and utilization. See Read the fleet KPIs.
- Operator Performance, pairing each operator with the machine they ran for their clocked sessions. See Measure operator work sessions.
See how it works on machine utilization.
