Shopfloor Monitoring

What is Shopfloor Monitoring?

Shopfloor monitoring refers to the continuous oversight of processes, systems, or machines in manufacturing to analyze their performance and condition in real time. This procedure enables the early detection of potential issues, thereby increasing efficiency and reliability across various industrial sectors.

Through the use of shopfloor monitoring systems (production metrics systems), production managers and engineers can detect potential problems early and take immediate action to minimize downtime and optimize production. This often involves the use of modern cloud-based manufacturing software platforms, which can be subscribed to as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) quickly and easily to collect, visualize, and evaluate data in real time.

Shopfloor Monitoring: A Tool of Shopfloor Management

Shopfloor monitoring is a technical tool that supports the operational part of Shopfloor Management (SFM). While SFM provides the framework and methodology for structured and efficient production management, shopfloor monitoring supplies the necessary real-time data and analyses to support these processes data-drivenly. By combining shopfloor management and shopfloor monitoring, companies can not only optimize their production processes but also establish a culture of continuous improvement based on sound insights.

A central advantage of shopfloor monitoring is therefore the ability to promote data-driven decision-making. Production data are not only collected but also analyzed to identify patterns and make predictions about future performance issues. Additionally, these systems can help improve communication between different departments, as all parties can access the same up-to-date information.

Key Components of Shopfloor Monitoring:

• Monitoring: Continuous control of systems and processes to detect deviations.
• Data Analysis: Collection and evaluation of performance data to identify trends and optimization opportunities.
• Fault Detection: Early detection of issues to avoid unplanned downtime.

Benefits of Shopfloor Monitoring:

• Increased Operational Security: Monitoring minimizes risks and reduces downtime through proactive measures.
• Proactive Maintenance: Enables timely maintenance actions before major disruptions occur.
• Efficiency Enhancement: Monitoring optimizes resources and enhances process performance.

Conclusion

Professional shopfloor monitoring is essential for shopfloor management to improve efficiency, quality, delivery reliability, cost, and competitiveness. This is only possible through the continuous recording and monitoring of production metrics (e.g., OEE, availability, performance, headcount, quality, MTBF, MTBR), to identify existing potentials and improve them quickly.

Only the availability and use of real-time data from equipment, machines, devices, workplaces, energy, shopfloor personnel, inventory, etc., allow for quick responses to deviations and directly contribute to optimizations in your production.