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For the PT group, it is about identifying process challenges. How can they optimize setup changeover activities? Why is the machine idle and what mitigating actions can be deployed to maintain higher utilization? It could be a lot of factors like poor timing of exchanges, waiting on materials, a restroom break or waiting on first article.
“Now, we can track that data and there are escalations associated with it,” explains Patrick. “If a machine is down for a certain amount of time, a message is sent directly to the supervisor. If it is down longer, it is escalated to a manager and so forth. The information is on the shop floor at machine terminals, on giant TV screens, and sends notifications up the chain of command. FactoryWiz alerts us. It alerts us not in the sense that the operator is doing something wrong, but that help is needed. We are finding better ways to analyze the data and we are finding added capacity because of it.”
“What I find so exciting about listening to Patrick and Reza is how they use the system,” adds John Lucier of FactoryWiz. “So many people use FactoryWiz for the high production capability, asking ‘can I shave seconds off?’ When you get users like Benchmark’s PT crew, who really know continuous improvement, you see that a high mix / low volume operation can benefit as well. Instead of the cycle time being the most important data point, processes
like how soon I can get the next part running becomes more important. You are looking at different data, but it is still data. More and more shops are beginning to see the value in data collection and not just on reduced cycle times for high quantity production runs.”
“The most successful implementations we see comes from customers when there is an internal champion,” touts Domenic. “That can be anywhere from the top down. A supervisor, a manager, or someone like Reza in the operations team. You need that one spark to make it spread like fire. It’s like a gym membership. If you get it and don’t go, not getting fit isn’t because of the gym. You collect all this data, but someone needs to interpret it and plan a course of action. Benchmark gets it. They are a power user now, but a year ago that gym membership wasn’t being used to the fullest. They have taken this tool and are utilizing it and improving on how they use it every day. They are sharing from operators, to managers, to supervisors. The data is unbiased, and it doesn’t lie. Trust the data and work on actionable items to improve. As they grow and learn, they are pushing us to develop new features and services. It is amazing how far they’ve come in such a short time frame. A year ago, they were a customer, but now they are one of the top few companies in the nation using FactoryWiz to this extent, and we love it.”
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CNC WESTJune/July 2022