OEE formula, and its components OEE, or Overall Equipment Effectiveness, is a brilliant invention that, in a single number, tells you how much waste there is on your shop floor. It is the ratio of what you produced to what you could have produced – the actual output to the theoretical possible output. It tells […]

An energy monitoring system based on Industry 4.0 can help reduce energy consumption, leading to reduction in expenditure and a more environmentally friendly shop floor. Traditionally, we have been tracking energy consumption for groups of machines like a whole shop floor. Maybe there is an energy meter for the  whole shop, and we track the

Production monitoring – accuracy and speed of data To be able to take correct and timely decisions on the shop floor, you need accurately and timely data from a good production monitoring system. With traditional paper-based manual production monitoring, data takes 1 day to reach you. With Industry 4.0, it takes 1 minute. 1440 minutes,

Each post in this blog has: 1. A bit of gyan (knowledge in Sanskrit) on Industry 4.0, specifically for MSMEs.2. Some Etc (meaning Etcetera), which is interesting stuff that has nothing to do with work. Industry 4.0 is a multi-disciplinary field, and knowledge on it is not available conveniently packaged in handbooks. Acquiring knowledge is painless

Why Industry 4.0 and LEAN go together As the number of machines on our shop floor increases, the darkness increases, and we stand there, wondering, fearing, doubting…..We have no idea of the current production quantity, which machines are running and which are idle, what is the ROI on the machines, and a hundred other things

Production tracking software and Andon boards Stale data on Andon boards is as useless as stale bread, and is in fact as harmful as stale bread. Here’s how  production tracking software based on Industry 4.0 principles can get you accurate and instant data on your Andon boards. Stale data on Andon boards is as useless

IoT based machine monitoring system The components of an IoT based machine monitoring system are these: Cyber physical system, IoT and Cloud computing. Cyber-physical system (CPS): Basically, a machine that is controlled or monitored by a computer that is directly connected to the internet. Cyber means ‘involving, using or relating to computers’ (as in cyber-space or

Formula for OEE calculation – diagnosing problems and fixing them The  Formula for OEE calculation is simple, but the ingredients that go into it decide whether you get a correct OEE value. Here is an explanation of the commonly encountered problems in OEE calculation, and the fixes for them.   Availability = (Running time /

Machine downtime in a typical CNC shop floor can be anywhere between 20 to 50 %. The lower number in mass production and the higher one in small batch production with frequent setups. Working 3 shifts, this translates to between 5 to 12 hours a day. That’s HUGE. Good news: CNC machine monitoring software can

Industry 4 revolution and illogical IT spread In most organizations, the IT network covers all the functions outside the shop floor – Accounts, HR, Stores, Sales, etc. Managers have accurate and up-to-date data on all these functions, and can take quick decisions in these areas. The shop floor, however, is an island in this sea