IIoT for Fastener Manufacturers
Whether you are familiar with IIoT technology (Industrial Internet of Things) or not, manufacturers are seeing the benefits of moving their plants to industry 4.0 standards. To give you some background, IIoT is basically harnessing machine learning, sensor data, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and automation technologies that already exists to create actionable data. The driving philosophy behind the IIoT is that smart machines are better than humans at accurately, consistently capturing and communicating data.
Challenges for Fastener Manufacturers
For fastener manufacturers, IIoT technology is a big deal. As competition and quality requirements continue to grow, fastener manufacturers need to keep up with the advances in technology. The problem is that there are not many solutions designed specifically for fastener manufactures. Some common problems we have seen in the fastener industry that many IIoT solutions don’t resolve are the following:
- Older equipment – incompatibility and limited technology available for older mechanical equipment (cold headers, stamping presses, thread rollers, etc.).
- Proprietary or custom equipment – while the data exists, the inability to access data and logic on proprietary and custom machinery, (i.e Inspection Machinery – Mectron, Gi, Attica, Linear, CCM, Custom machines, etc.).
- Universal management platform – manual data is gathered and tracked and reported on without accountability and consistency across all machinery.
- Operator and machine accountability – inaccurate data and inability to properly monitor machine metrics and operator performance.
- Alerts and Alarms – outdated notification technology (requires operators to visually check lights, gauges etc.)
Regardless of vendor, technology, or machine age, we need a FASTENER solution for harnessing data, analyzing trends, reporting on problems and alerting us when things are out of order.
Machine Insite™ | Empower your data…Empower your growth
Machine Insite™ is the solution for fastener manufacturers to resolve these problems and more. Our smart factory solution was specifically designed for fastener manufactures to move towards the Industry 4.0 standards without the hassle of customized automation, expensive integration costs or machine specific solutions.
As an example, we are able to install a single Machine Insite DAQ (Data Acquisition) unit on virtually any type of machine (cold header, stamping press, thread roller, inspection machine) regardless of age, vendor, or technology. Each of these DAQ units are universally designed to integrate perfectly with your equipment while giving data access to our Insite software platform. This software then allows you to view that data any what you want. Some key features include:
- Real-Time Monitoring and Management
- Operator Supervisor
- Trending Analytics
- Alerts and Alarms
- Reporting
By incorporating these tools into your fastener production environment, you will see many different benefits including:
- Operator Accountability
- Machine uptime/downtime
- Fault reasoning
- Throughput performance
- Real-time performance data
- Parts per minute
- Passed parts
- Failed parts
- Machine efficiency data
- Uptime/downtime
- Machine efficiency
- Passed percentage
- Historical Accuracy
- View trends
- Pinpoint quality issues
- Eliminate waste
- Alerts and Alarms
- SMS and Email Alerts
- Unlimited conditional alerts
- Know when machines:
- Are idle
- Are down
- Are running slow
- Need product
- Require Maintenance
IIoT ROI | What’s it’s worth?
Each and every industry knows the return on investment (ROI) on each piece of production equipment. Fastener manufacturers are no different. The benefits of the Machine Insite™ platform not only increase production and accountability, but also allow each part of your production group to see a benefit.
Operators Benefits:
Operators range from trusted staff to part time help. All operators should have a common goal and common standards to verify they are reaching their goals.
- Keep operators accountable for machinery speed, uptime and efficiency
- Know when and why something is not functioning
- Highlight what machines/operators are successful
Maintenance Benefits:
The quality of your maintenance will directly impact your machinery’s production quantity and longevity.
- Know what machines are down
- Create maintenance schedules and alarms
- Keep your machinery running better and longer
Engineer Benefits:
Engineers only have so much time. They should be monitoring endless processes and variables to make sure production is running to the proper standard.
- Detect bottlenecks immediately
- Make production nearly perfect
- Gain 100% control of your process
- Eliminate variables
Quality Benefits:
You need to provide accurate answers for root-cause analysis and ensure defects don’t reach customers.
- Stop reacting to problems
- Always have the answer with the quickest and most accurate data
Management Benefits:
Supervisors and owners are responsible for running the plant at optimal efficiency, deploying resources and constantly putting out fires. Don’t try without accurate data.
- Uncover and improve inefficiency in the plant
- Have confidence in knowing the exact status of production
- Proactively see where and why issues arise
Company Benefits:
The company works as a machine. Without the proper tools, we shouldn’t wonder why our company isn’t running as efficiently as it should. With Machine Insite™:
- Each group has actionable data every step of the way
- You will have the competitive edge on the competition
- You will provide confidence to your customers
- You will eliminate waste
- You will increase output
- You will increase quality
Add Fastener IIoT Technology to your production Environment
While we can’t promise you the world, we can invite you to join our family. We are dedicated to helping fastener manufacturers grow their business with cutting edge technology. We are dedicated to our customers by continually developing better products to empower our your data.
If this is something that sparks an interest with you, please visit us at http://machine-insite.com for more information. We would love the opportunity to come to your facility to see the benefits you can receive by adding fastener IIoT technology to your production environment.
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