Manufacturing Intelligence

Manufacturing Intelligence (MI) refers to the meaningful presentation of data generated by your manufacturing processes. A comprehensive MI system employs the automated collection, correlation, storage and retrieval of data. This data is then available in various forms at nearly every level, from its origination on the production floor to the most senior executive, where it provides the basis for informed decisions.

Lets face it, most processes generate volumes of data in both hard copy and electronic format, and its not uncommon for organizations to spend vast amounts of time and resources gathering, storing and reporting this data. Unfortunately, many businesses still can't easily access the data they have gathered and that's where we step in. Starting with your existing infrastructure we design a data storage and retrieval system that keeps data secure while finally providing the accessibility you need to make informed decisions. Our web-based reporting and dashboard solutions take information accessibility to new levels for our clients, and we welcome the opportunity to demonstrate how these solutions can work for you.

We use the term Manufacturing Intelligence as a goal, one that need not be reached in a single step, but rather a process that grows with your organization's needs. For more details, please contact us.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness and Downtime Reporting

Many manufacturers are looking at or have begun efforts to apply Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) to their processes largely because of its universal acceptance as a common benchmark. OEE combines process availability, machine performance, and quality reject measurements into a single value. And together with downtime analysis, management now has a powerful set of tools to see where efficiency losses originate.

We believe that the proper application of OEE and Downtime Reporting is a great first step in identifying efficiency issues. However, when it comes to long-term results there is much more to equation than simply reporting OEE and Downtime statistics.

We have worked with our clients to take the next step and apply “cost of correction” and “probability of success factors” with proper root cause analysis to yield the most effective long-term results. We constantly review our client's results and case studies from other OEE/Downtime projects to find the most effective methods for identifying losses and determining the most advantageous solutions.

For more details, please contact us to see how we can bring an OEE and Downtime Reporting solution to your organization.

Power Monitoring

It is a common misconception that Power Quality issues originate with the power utility, in fact most power quality issues are introduced inside the plant itself. Many of the voltage sag issues a plant sees are a result of starting motors inside the plant. A starting motor has very high inrush current, as much as 10 times normal operation. Multiply that by the number of motors in your production or conveying line and it's easy to see how these surges can affect all of the electrical equipment in your facility.

In it's most basic form, a power monitoring system traces the current and voltage on each of three phases of power that feed a motor, a machine, a work-center, or your entire plant. By analyzing these six values, even the most basic of power monitoring systems can provide vital information such as power factor and load balancing.

Let us show you how a power quality monitoring system will take the guess work out of how your facility uses energy and can lead to lower energy consumption, reduced equipment maintenance, and even improved product quality. For more details, please contact us.

Application Integration

Today's most efficient organizations have developed sophisticated integrated systems that encompass virtually every aspect of their manufacturing and business processes. However, in the real world most companies don't have the budget required to fully integrate all the systems they use to run their business. That's where we come in, leveraging current technologies to integrate and streamline your existing systems.

Most applications today are built on open databases and often have some form of web interface. We use these features to develop integrated solutions that can be deployed virtually anywhere within your organization. Imagine production personnel accessing schedules, forms, checklists, work-orders, documentation, parts-lists, and maintenance requirements right at their work-centers.

We can help you develop secure systems that provide access to nearly any function within your entire organization, and in most case we can achieve this goal by simply expanding on systems and technology you organization already uses and understands.

For more details about our application integration capabilities, please contact us.

Document Management

Document management has been an ever increasing challenge for most organizations. Whether its for legal requirements (like Sarbanes-Oxley), product quality assurance records, system maintenance manuals, or training needs, there are thousands of documents we regularly encounter. Getting rid of them is not a option, they're the backbone that supports our business endeavors.

In terms of efficiency, a good document management system is a key element in insuring that the most current and accurate information is available, which in turn improves the overall manufacturing process.

We have developed document management solutions that can store your documents in a secure, redundant repository. And our visualization tools can bring your documents to almost every computer or operator interface virtually anywhere throughout your organization. We believe that with a disciplined approach and the right tools you can start a process now whose benefits will become measurable almost immediately.

For more details about our document management solutions, please contact us.

Alarm Management

The visibility and handling of alarms within your processes can be one of the key differences between a profitable operation and one that struggles.

In our experience, most control and automation systems fail to handle alarms with the importance they deserve. For example, do all operators know the proper procedure for handling each alarm that your systems are capable of generating? Do your reporting systems provide statistical reports of the frequency and duration of alarms? Is your control system capable of notifying key personnel when an alarm is triggered?

We have personally witnessed thousands of dollars worth of product having to be destroyed because an operator failed to correctly handle an alarm. In another instance an alarm was present and no one was around to see the failure, again resulting in thousands of dollars of damage.

Often the control systems for your machinery and processing equipment have built in alarms established by the original equipment manufacturer. Adding new alarms or even determining the conditions under which an existing alarm will occur can be difficult or impossible; and Help Screens for operators are practically unheard of.

The APAK Group has a better solution, and with our integrated Alarm Management tools you can:

• Define alarm messages and trigger conditions
• Define help files to inform operators about how to handle alarms
• Configure authorized users to acknowledge alarms
• Summarize and report alarm statistics
• Send text or email messages to key personnel

For more details about our Alarm Management solutions, please contact us.

Data Collection