Machine monitoring done right

As I sit to write an article about a single aspect of smart manufacturing, one particular detail has been sticking out lately in my brain because I find myself constantly repeating a phrase while at machine monitoring installations. It’s the answer to the question I’m asked by every new customer. The question is some form of “What’s the easiest way to make sure that this machine monitoring system will work for us?” My answer is consistently the same three words: “Visibility and accountability.” This reply comes from installing machine monitoring systems on several thousand machines over the past 20 years. Yes, it sounds so simple, but visibility and accountability are the secret to success with machine monitoring.

I’ll start with visibility because it is logical and so easy to accomplish. The beauty of an effective machine monitoring system is that it can provide not only real-time data about machine utilization but historical data for machine performance as well. The easiest way to put this data to work is with live machine monitoring dashboards on large-screen monitors right on the shop floor. The reason to do this is where the logic kicks in. As all machinists would then understand that there is live, companywide visibility into their machines’ performance, they will logically—maybe even subconsciously—reduce downtime and run more cycles.

An effective machine monitoring system provides live data about machine utilization and historical data about machine performance. Image courtesy of eNetDNC & Machine Monitoring

Customers who display these dashboards on their shop floors routinely tell me they see an immediate 10 percent increase in machine efficiency. If a company purchases a higher-end monitoring system that forces operators to report reasons for downtime, that also brings increased visibility and is good for at least another 10 percent increase in machine efficiency. Again, logic dictates that no operator wants to have 10 reported reasons for downtime during a shift when every co-worker has only two. Operators naturally stay closer to their machines and run more cycles because everyone at the company can see the live machine utilization data. Visibility is the easiest part of the machine monitoring puzzle to put into place and offers the quickest return on investment.