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Information Nuggets
in the Track and Trace Data Stream
 Track-and-trace
applications provide more information and benefits than expected at
implementation.
Track-and-trace applications have grown
principally through the impetus of government regulations. Companies in
industries ranging from pharmaceutical to food production must keep
track of products, including the genealogies of lots of production and
distribution. These companies needed the ability to react quickly to
recall products when a problem is reported. A thorough track-and-trace
system assures maximum recall of affected products, while also limiting
the recall to just those products, greatly reducing the cost of a
recall.
A track-and-trace system includes a data input
system, software that includes a historian and analysis tools, and
visualization and reporting. Data input ranges from manual to such
automatic tools as bar code and radio frequency identification (RFID).
While none of these systems is new, manufacturing professionals have
discovered an important by-product of collecting all this
data—information about the detailed working of the
manufacturing process.
This application is so general that it fits many
different industries. The already mentioned pharmaceutical and
food-and-beverage industries must have some sort of application in
order to comply with regulations of various governmental agencies.
Companies that are part of the supply chains of companies in these
industries may also need to implement the applications in case of a
quality problem with their customers. Beyond that, companies in
entirely different industries have found value in applications that
could be considered track and trace simply because of the real-time
information and data mining opportunities afforded by the systems... Read
more
OEE Raises
Long-Term Competitiveness
“OEE is one
of the most recognized KPIs (key performance indicators), if not the
most recognized,” observes Craig Resnick, a research director
at ARC Advisory Group Inc., in Dedham, Mass.
Resnick and his colleagues encourage end-users to
take advantage of today’s technology to more quickly
calculate the metrics of OEE, or overall equipment effectiveness, a
performance metric that equals the sum of a process’
availability times its performance times the quality of products
produced.
“It’s imperative for
manufacturers to collect data automatically and in real
time,” declares Resnick. They should then tie that data
together and get it to the enterprise, which then allows plant
production data to be compared with true operating time, he advises. Do
this and use OEE as a dynamic optimization tool, Resnick says, and
positive results follow. “I think they’ll be
surprised about how fast they see results...” Read
more
Measuring
Return on Automation
When operations
managers and engineers evaluate how to improve manufacturing processes,
they often look at implementing new or improved automation systems.
After careful studies of the costs of purchasing hardware and software,
and adding in the costs of engineering and construction, they are ready
to make a request for funds from the business side of the company. It
is very likely that they will hear the question, “What is the
expected return on this investment?” In fact, if they are
unlucky, they may also hear financial management ask questions such as,
“As a matter of fact, while we’re on this subject,
just what has been the return on all the automation that
we’ve bought over the last five years?”... Read
more |
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