Analyzing Capacity Utilization Using Machine Run Time

The Benefits

$1,000’s Saved
in Staff Costs

due to not needing additional staff or consultants to support solution.

Addtl Metrics
Collected

due to a data collection architecture that can be added to easily.

$1,000’s Saved
in Equipment Costs

due to smarter machine purchases made using accurate runtime data.

66% savings

for manufacturer on new solution while also avoiding on-going subscription fees.

“We saved over $100,000 with the solution we created with SCS and will not incur any annual subscription fees. We can now respond to plant managers request for additional staff and equipment with real-time data on utilization and productivity.”

- IT Director

Project Overview

A manufacturing and distribution company providing a variety of products and services through 21 companies out of 18 locations wanted to understand capacity and machine utilization down to the shift and operator level.

The manufacturer has over 100 machines in their various locations that regularly transmit usage to a cloud service. They were using a Linux solution that used scripts and an open-source reporting tool to provide dashboards illustrating machine running time.

That solution was difficult to support and enhance because Linux is not used by the manufacturer and the solution had no error handling, so they were not notified if the data was not being collected.

SCS built a more robust Microsoft solution that was easy to support, enhance, and analyze.

Goals

Data pulled from the machine API every few minutes.

Data stored in a robust database environment.

Notifications when data collection fails.

Ability for internal IT staff to create new reports and dashboards.

Approach

Reviewed the existing Linux scripts, database, and dashboards to determine how the original solution was built.
Built an SSIS package that calls the API to download machine data such as maximum and minimum amperage.
Built a SQL Server database to store the machine and measurement data.
Built dashboards in Reporting Services to easily display machine up time and usage.

The Results

Data is collected from the API every three minutes for all 100+ machines.

If the data collection job fails, the team gets notified via email.

The data collection job can be easily modified using Visual Studio.

Machines can be added and “retired” within the database without having to change the data collection job.

They can build new reports and dashboards that show machine usage in new, creative ways—for example, machine data is displayed in a floorplan of the shop at the physical location of the machine.

New reports allow managers and floor directors to know exactly which machines are over and underutilized.

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