When it comes to industry, where competition is always high, efficiency is king. Profits can be lost with every minute of downtime, every broken product, and every missed goal. To stay ahead, makers need a way to keep an eye on their production lines all the time, find problems quickly, and make their processes run more smoothly. Plant tracking systems (PMS) are useful for this.
What is a system for keeping an eye on production?
A production tracking system is a piece of software that gathers real-time information from machines, sensors, and people working on the shop floor. Then, this data is analysed and shown in a way that is easy for people to understand, like screens, reports, and alerts. This gives production managers and other important people a good look at how their production lines are running.
What a production monitoring system can do for you
Manufacturers can get a lot of benefits from setting up a production monitoring system. Here are a few important pros:
Increased Efficiency: A PMS helps find ways to make things better by giving real-time information on machine performance, downtime, and bottlenecks. This lets manufacturers make the best use of their resources, set the best output schedules, and cut down on waste.
Better Quality Control: Having real-time information on the quality of a product lets problems be found quickly. Because of this, companies can fix problems before they happen, which saves them time and money.
Less downtime: PMS can find problems with equipment before they happen, which lets preventive repair happen. This keeps production lines going smoothly and cuts down on unplanned downtime.
Better Decisions: A PMS gives managers data-driven insights that help them make smart choices about production methods, resource allocation, and future investments.
Better Communication and Teamwork: PMS can make it easier for people from different areas, like production, maintenance, and quality control, to talk to each other and work together. So, everyone is on the same page and moving towards the same goals.
What does a system for monitoring production keep an eye on?
A PMS will keep an eye on different types of data based on the industry and type of production line. But here are some popular metrics:
Machine Availability: This shows what % of the time a machine is running and ready to make things.
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE): This is a key measure that looks at how well a machine is used by comparing its availability, performance (speed), and quality.
Downtime: This includes downtime caused by planned repair, broken equipment, a lack of materials, and other things.
Production Output: This shows how many high-quality goods were made during a certain time frame.
In terms of output, cycle time is the amount of time it takes to finish one unit.
Process Parameters: Temperature, pressure, and flow rates are just a few of the parameters that need to be watched for quality control in many tools and processes.
Rates of Defects: The number of goods that don’t meet quality standards.
Different kinds of production monitoring systems
There are different kinds of methods for keeping an eye on production, and each has its own pros and cons. Here is a quick list of the most popular kinds:
Supervisory handle and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems: SCADA systems are mostly used to oversee and handle business processes. They can also gather and show production data, but their main goal is real-time control, not complex statistics.
MES stands for “Manufacturing Execution Systems.” These systems are made to oversee and carry out production tasks on the shop floor. They offer detailed production data, such as real-time success metrics, and can connect to other systems, such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).
Machine Monitoring Systems: These systems are designed to keep an eye on how well machines are running by tracking things like cycle times, uptime, and downtime. They are often in the cloud and let you see and get updates on your data in real time.
IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) Platforms: These platforms link different sensors and gadgets on the shop floor so they can collect data in real time. After that, this data can be combined with information from other systems, like systems that watch over production, to get more detailed information and advanced analytics.
How to Pick the Best System for Monitoring Production
There are a lot of things that affect which production tracking system is best for your business. These include your budget, your needs, and the size and complexity of your operation. When picking a PMS, here are some important things to think about:
The method you choose should be able to grow with your business.
Integration: Make sure that the system can work with the ERP and MES tools that you already have.
Easy to Use: The system should be easy for both technical and non-technical people to use.
Security: To keep your important info safe, the system should have strong security features.
Cost: Think about both how much the system costs up front and how much it costs to maintain and help users.
What’s Next for Monitoring Production
Improvements in technologies like IIoT, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence (AI) are always making production tracking systems change. These are some trends:
Predictive Maintenance: Systems that use AI will be able to look at real-time data and guess when equipment might break down before it does. This will let manufacturers use methods for preventive maintenance and cut down on unplanned downtime as much as possible.
Real-time Optimisation: AI will look at production data in real time and offer changes that will make machine settings, production schedules, and the use of resources more efficient. There will be big gains in general efficiency as a result.
Better Collaboration: New data and machine learning will make it easier for people and machines to work together more closely. For instance, AI systems could offer ways to fix problems that humans find.
Plug-and-Play Solutions: It will be easier to set up and use production tracking systems that are made up of separate modules. This will make it easy for makers to add new features and connect them to systems that are already in use.
In conclusion
In conclusion, in today’s competitive market, production tracking systems are an important tool for manufacturers. Manufacturers can improve quality control, make choices based on data, and optimise their production processes with PMS’s real-time data and insights. As technology keeps getting better, we can expect production tracking systems to get even smarter and stronger. These systems will completely change how manufacturing is done.
Moving On
There are many tools out there that can help you get started with setting up a production monitoring system in your business. Look into different vendors, go to events in your field, and talk to other manufacturers who have already used PMS systems. You can learn useful things that will help you improve your production if you have the right method in place.