How Industry 4.0 changes the accuracy and speed of production tracking
To be able to take correct and timely decisions on the shop floor, you need accurately and timely data of production tracking from machines.
Production tracking - current method
In the traditional method of manual production tracking from machines, data takes 1 day to reach you. With Industry 4.0, it takes 1 minute. 1440 minutes, versus 1 minute !
Here’s how production tracking is done traditionally. There are people who go to every machine at the end of every shift, and ask the operator how many parts were made, how many were rejected, and what were the downtimes. They note these numbers down in a register, then enter them in a computer. Yesterday’s night shift ends today morning, so the whole of yesterday’s data is entered by today morning. Then someone else makes reports from this data for senior management. These reports are used in the morning production meeting, to do a post mortem of yesterday’s production.
The data is coming to decision makers via a chain of humans, usually cooked up along the way, after 24 hours. So it is inaccurate, and too late to do anything if something requires immediate attention.
With Industry 4.0
With Industry 4.0, production tracking is 24/7. This is how it woks:
Here’s how Industry 4.0 works:
1. There’s a machine
2. There is a sensor sensor on the machine that collects data from it
3. The sensor sends the data to the internet
4. Cloud software collects the data and analyzes it
5. Data is displayed to people, sent to other software, sent back to the same machine, or to machines.
The data is collected automatically, analyzed immediately by software, and available as reports within seconds. You also get alerts on your mobile phone or email when something happens that requires immediate attention.
So. With Industry 4.0, instant, accurate data direct from machines. With the traditional paper method, inaccurate data after 24 hours.