A fundamental prerequisite for increasing production efficiency, reducing costs and improving product quality is information that enables manufacturing companies to better understand their processes, make quicker decisions and improve management. However, in practice, it is often observed that many industrial companies, despite having a wealth of production data, have little useful information for optimizing production processes.
What are the key issues in managing production data?
Although the challenges of optimizing production with production data vary across different industries, there are some common issues that are encountered in most cases:
Fragmentation. Since data is usually in different systems and formats, it is difficult to aggregate. In many cases, production systems are also outdated and incompatible for external integration, making real-time data capture automation even more challenging.
Processing. Production data starts as the raw records collected during production processes. To gain insights into the status and management of production, it first needs to be converted into useful information, and many companies lack the appropriate tools and expertise to do this.
Large quantities. Production processes generate enormous amounts of data, including sensor measurements, machine logs, product quality reports and more, so it is often challenging to collect and store it in one place.
Speed. Speed is of the essence when processing large volumes of data because if data is not processed in real time, we may lose opportunities for immediate action and improvements.
Security. Since production data often contains sensitive information about processes and products, we also need to ensure it is secure against loss and protected against unauthorized access and misuse.
How do we use production data to improve production efficiency?
Production data is extracted and used as useful information for optimizing production in the following steps:
We start by systematically collecting real-time data on production processes, using automated sensors, gauges, IIoT technology and software for individual machines and lines.
To this end, Metronik provides solutions for automated collection and storage of production data from various sources, centralizing data from all parts of production in a powerful process historian environment.
To facilitate this, we make use of graphical displays such as charts, histograms, heat maps and dashboards to better understand the information and to communicate with those involved in production processes. These tools also help to detect links between different variables more quickly and to identify anomalies.
The visualization of production information is provided by Metronik’s MePIS family of software solutions, which make it easy to monitor processes in real time and identify problems and opportunities for improvement.
Advanced AI-powered techniques, such as predictive analytics, can be used to turn data into information, allowing us to identify the causes of problems and opportunities to optimize production. For example, predictive algorithms can be used to anticipate potential equipment failures, enabling preventive maintenance to avoid production setbacks.
That’s why MePIS software also includes advanced analytical capabilities that facilitate a deeper understanding of production information and the identification of patterns and trends for forecasting, process optimization and product quality.
We plan and implement process improvement measures based on transparent and understandable information. This may include changes to production parameters, adjustments to equipment, the introduction of new technologies or improvements to work processes.
The production data used in MePIS solutions can be exchanged with other business applications such as ERP systems, WMS, process management systems and others, allowing a more comprehensive insight into operations and better management of production processes.
We also pay special attention to protecting production data and information from external threats and internal vulnerabilities, which is key to ensuring its availability, integrity and security according to modern standards.
How can Metronik help you?
As a specialized provider of automation and digitalization solutions with more than three decades of experience and a large engineering team, we can assist you in all these areas.
As the saying goes, sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees. This also applies to information for optimizing production, where the perspective of an external expert familiar with best practices across various manufacturing industries can significantly aid in understanding and implementing improvement measures.
If you have a lot of production data but little useful information to improve production efficiency, the right person to talk to for effective solutions is Vanja Tomažič, who can be contacted at vanja.tomazic@metronik.si.
