I found several things significant in the replies.

• They described many tools people are using to manage manufacturing facilities.
• They showed there is great diversity in the tools that are being used.
• They showed that almost everyone felt timeliness of the information is important.
• They showed little to no use of an integrated solution of automated real-time intelligence.

This leads me to believe that the best tools for managing operations in manufacturing are yet to come for many people. In the meantime, look over this excellent list of tools that were suggested. The real-time, web based solution that you implement today must perform these roles – only faster, easier and able to be shared in the right form by all.

A former Director of Manufacturing:

1. Have no more than 5 metrics (explain them to all the people and why they are important) reduced to the lowest common denominator,
2. Visualize the metrics on a board in the sections responsible,
3. Measure all metric each day and hold people accountable,,
4. Post updates each week,
5. Celebrate when you hit milestone,
6. Insist on the 5S mentality
7. Know what you are talking about when speaking to Theory of Constraints and lean and MAKE sure that your team leaders understand them
8. Use the six sigma tools to produce data and work to the data to solve problems.
9. Turn everyone into process engineers and put someone in charge of documenting and teaching the new processes.

To this others added the following:

1. Add a clear operational definition of the metric
2. Make sure the calculation of metrics are known and understood
3. Post them Daily and talk to people about the metrics. They are important.

A Facility Manager:

1. A Plant Model in a spreadsheet – enter the schedule and let it calculate Machine and Department Hours, Direct Labor Hours by process, Raw Material requirements, Put Up/Packing Material Requirements, Waste and so on.
2. Labor Variance Report
3. Inventory Reports

Project Manager:

1. TPM, Kaizen, KPI Dashboards, Performance Management, Asset Management , OEE, Workflow Automation, 6 sigma, Preventive Maintenance, Employee alignment & Inspirational involvement
2. Reduce non-value added activities
3. Standardize work

A Consultant suggests:

• Business Awareness – asking the right questions.

A Plant Manager described his system:

I use metrics that coincide with standard work and Takt, avoid metrics that promote a PUSH system. Kan Ban of supplies to support each cell, or manufacturing unit.( manage your working Capital), with focus on reduction. I use hourly reporting at each machine center/cell, and address variations from standard work as they happen, I do not believe in variance reports and reviewing after the fact, you do not have accurate information at that point, and tend to lead to finger pointing. Continue to change the process as you uncover wastes, to bubble up new wastes. Work towards 1×1 flow, and you will manage your operations.

Lean Consultant 1:

1. Lean Principles
2. Safety
3. Risk Management

LEAN Consultant 2:

1. Understand Process flow
2. Work to reduce or delete work that does not add value

Marketing Person:

• Labor Optimization

Consultant 3:

• ERP System

Director of Engineering

• Visual management aids such as signal lights in work cells, process storyboards, Kanban cards, etc

BTW: I highly encourage you to join either or both of these new Linkedin Groups:

Southeast Manufacturing Operational Excellence

Manufacturing System Evolution

Kevin Totherow is a Business Development Manager of MES for Schneider Electric and a consultant for helping manufacturing clients manage their operations better. Kevin has been a controls engineer, consultant and president of Sylution Incorporated. He can be reached at (864) 252-6819 or by email at kevin.totherow@schneider-electric.com.

This article will explain a few options for implementing  electronic signage and dashboards to convey intelligence from process controls and plant databases safely while  balancing cost, agility,  and flexibility of use of the investment.

The two basic types of displays – the LED Marquee and the large format monitor (usually with a computer) are the basis for most manufacturing visualization solutions.

LED Displays:

LED displays are a good choice for putting data on the plant floor. They are easily seen from great distances, have good life, are made for almost any environment, and are energy efficient.

Pros: They are very effective at being seen and people tend to read them. Due to life of the units they are typically a value over the lifetime of the unit.

There are many variations at all levels. Get help getting the right unit for your need – in general I break these down into three categories:

Small Displays

• Display messages or graphics in Red/Green/Amber
• Uses serial communications ports (typical)
• Inexpensive programming software (extra) for the unit but it requires the customer or an engineer to set up a custom programming to interface to message and control the visualization.
• Most difficult set-up and configuration to get real-time data (unless you do it often).

Smart Displays with Ethernet communication and internal web configuration

• The units are typically larger. Multi-line display with room for formatting visualization
• Graphics as well as text
• Internal web server login for configuration.
  • Units user-friendly easy to configure
  • They are great for central/remote configuration from anywhere on the LAN/WAN
  • Great plant-wide or corporate solution.
• They have all the capability of traditional LED displays but they are more easily configured, use TCPIP, and connect easily to controllers.
• These units connect to get real-time process information safely from OPC servers, or directly to automation through Modbus/tcp, Ethernet/IP, XML, SOAP.
• The (free) software and open API that can connect to almost any device or data source is easy to use and learn. Further, the API has already been configured for most of the typical controllers – so the engineering time needed is very low. Strong technical support with an emphasis on manufacturing.
• Low cost installation and setup
• These units are easily connected to data sources to show the same real-time performance and manufacturing intelligence in the manufacturing areas that others see on the web portal.

LED display with an embedded computer.

• The units are typically larger (multi-line) and more expensive.
• The units can show any graphic on the LED (within size limit)
• Great for showing website/portal information
• Connects via TCPIP
• Software choices for configuration to control and information systems include an OPC Gateway that can work for multiple displays and multiple controllers.
• Moderate to easy installation and set up.

Tips for LED Marquee Recommendation:

1. Call us at people that you can trust and discuss your need and opportunity.
2. It is about visualization. Cheaper is not better. If it isn’t seen it wasn’t a better deal.
3. Use a cloth or cardboard markup with correct sized lettering on the plant floor to check the ability to read the sign before buying.
4. Eliminate custom setup and increase flexibility by using a little larger more capable LED solution that connects via Ethernet and has a built-in configuration.
5. Think carefully about investing in a standalone marquee that gathers and displays information. The visualization solution should show the same intelligence available in the office and on reports. One version of the truth.

Monitor/Computer and Electronic Signage Software

Monitors are a great choice where viewing distances are not large. This option is often selected because it is easy. However, the first requirement is to make sure that the monitor is bright enough and big enough to provide the visualization required.

Note: A common problem with this solution is that engineers try to show too much information – so very little is seen and the project failed to achieve its goal. Less information is better!

Pros: Easiest set-up and maintenance (but also the easiest to screw up and waste time and money)

• Make sure the LCD monitor meets the visualization needs
• System components may need to be enclosed to meet environmental requirements
• Inexpensive monitor life may not be good
• Monitor/computer in one is a good solution
• Overall cost may be higher than LED displays
• Very flexible – can do more than LED systems
• Excellent solution to show web based or portal information.
• Software to connect to any plant system via standards like OPC.
• Easy to maintain by engineers
• Easy to build a plant system.
• The key is the software putting the KPI’s on the computer. Two options that often do not work well – 1) IT builds custom application to get control system data. 2) Use off-the-shelf HMI/SCADA software built for control room operators.

Tips for Monitor/Computer Electronic Signage Solution

1. Make sure the hardware meets the visualization need
2. Make sure the hardware meets the environmental requirement
3. Consider an industrial solution (not always recommended)
4. Consider a large format monitor with embedded computer.
5. If you have a system for performance management or manufacturing operations management – then you have the ability to use the open portal to display any downtime, OEE, SPC or more from multiple systems on dashboards, charts or reports. You also have the ability to set the scroll through the various displays.
6. Use a dedicated, web-based, industrial software to display real-time automation system, process historian, or database information in easy to build dashboards, trends, and reports. Status is inexpensive and also has built-in controls for automation of the remote visualization node.

Kevin Totherow is a Business Development Manager of MES for Schneider Electric and a consultant for helping manufacturing clients manage their operations better. Kevin has been a controls engineer, consultant and president of Sylution Incorporated. He can be reached at (864) 252-6819 or by email at kevin.totherow@schneider-electric.com.

My car has an ergonomic dashboard with excellent feedback on everything needed to operate the vehicle: speed, rpm, tire pressure, mpg, compass, add-on GPS, alarms, and much more.  My car is also equipped with front-wheel drive, anti-lock computer controlled braking system, automatic transmission, and computerized stability control steering. However, the car will still slide into a ditch if I drive it over ice improperly and it will certainly go into a ditch if I drive it there. In short – my car has some excellent operator feedback and closed loop control enhancements that make driving easier and safer – but the driver is still in control of the vehicle. This level of feedback and closed loop control is a good analogy for state-of- the-art manufacturing and process operations management today.

What if we take away the dashboard and alarms in your car?  Instead we will get each driver to log where they are driving, miles driven and time from place to place. We will log the gas and oil checks and additions, the tire pressure, and keep a record on breakdowns. From this data we will create Excel® graphs and charts of various Key Performance Indicators such as gas mileage, oil usage, miles between breakdowns, and maybe performance on different trips and differences between drivers. We will then post the data KPIs and with costs in the garage once a week. You can organize a family meeting to discuss the data and all drivers will understand how to help maximize use of the vehicle. You can use the data to talk to your kids individually about driving too fast based on the mileage and time it took for them to go to the movies. You and your wife will be thrilled to see how management of the vehicle will help save money when you really just want to get groceries to cook a good meal.

Industry in many ways has dealt with issues above by limiting control by operators because it was the easiest thing to do – and in many ways the best. Pumping the brakes will result in the fastest and safest way to stop the vehicle – so antilock braking is a good thing to automate – helping the driver. However, today giving the driver more information for them to make decisions about the conditions they are facing the direction they want to travel is the best way to help the driver. Likewise this is where operations in manufacturing is best today.

Automation of operation today is about automation and visualization of intelligence for better decision making. This is not the realm of closed loop controls, it is not taking away decision making – but elevating the ability of the whole team to make better, faster decisions based on true intelligence.

The company that makes the closed-loop cruise control algorithm for Ford is not the company that provides fleet management for UPS. The day is fast approaching that everything from your vehicle to your vacuum cleaner will provide feedback and intelligence for better decision making. This is the realm operations management. It can be entered today by manufacturing and process companies that have the most sophisticated machines and monolithic automation systems – and those that have work cells of manual processes, warping frames, or a distillation column from the 1950s. Jack Benny’s Maxwell (see picture) was antiquated in the 1940s. You wouldn’t need to add the sophisticated closed-loop controls of todays cars to improve your ability to drive the old Maxwell to a new destination. Maybe a GPS is the right tool to start using the Maxwell more effectively.

Kevin Totherow

Kevin Totherow is a Business Development Manager of MES for Schneider Electric and a consultant for helping manufacturing clients manage their operations better. Kevin has been a controls engineer, consultant and president of Sylution Incorporated. He can be reached at (864) 252-6819 or by email at kevin.totherow@schneider-electric.com.

About the Process:

The process is tracking and controlling Key Performance Indicators.

The features of a good KPI:

1.      It can be measured

2.      It is an indicator of good performance

3.      It can be controlled by the person responsible

Key Performance Indicators provide knowledge that can motivate, enforce a behavior, require an action, prove a relationship between cause and effect, and more. Key Performance or as some call them Key Success Factors are used in almost every business but in many ways they are highly underutilized. How many key performance indicators have you seen posted on bulletin boards over the years that include things like stock price, profit, safety of entire company, etc. They might be great measures of a company’s success but to those of us in at the plant – they are about as key to our performance as barometric pressure, temperature and hours of sunlight in a day. We can’t control any of them.

About the Most Important Business Tool of the 20^th Century:

The greatest business tool of the 20^th Century might be the computer – but as far as software goes it is probably the Spreadsheet program. I use Excel® everyday for a dozen different purposes and yet I see manufacturing managers that are far more expert than I am – and some that are literally managing almost every facet of their business using Excel®. Go to the bulletin boards in every plant and you will see dozens of beautiful graphs, charts, and trends that explain important information. The thing is manufacturing needs a system that is one version of the truth, easily automated with real-time data from existing source, contains business rules, and presents the information in real-time in the format needed by the audience. Oops, I got carried away. Now – I want to focus now on the selection and tracking of the right KPIs to achieve weight lose goals.

Something snapped in May of 2010 for me, probably another button off the waistband of my pants. Whatever, but I decided to get healthy and in shape. I knew that my habits were against me and I needed to change my behavior. I had to develop key performance indicators that I could track to help me achieve my goals and my tool was going to be Excel®.  Really, I can’t figure why my wife Jaci says I am so much of an engineer about everything.

Take a look at the chart below.

Figure 1

I started on June 1, 2010 at 217 lbs. On September 2, 2010 I weighed 177 lbs.

That is not the story. The story is that tracking the KPIs is what greatly helped me achieve the goals – and if I continue – will help me get to 167 before January 1, 2011.

Pick the right KPIs

I wanted to get in athletic shape and be healthy. This was a good goal but it is general and hard to measure – however, maintaining a healthy weight and being able to run a marathon are good indicators of being in shape. These are the parameters that I chose as KPIs.

My Key Performance Indicators:

• Weight
• Calories – forget fat, carbs, sugar, etc – calories consumed was the KPI
• Miles run per day
• Miles run per week

There are two main KPI types or uses. One KPI is used to achieve a goal; the other is used to maintain a goal or level of performance. You will see that I set up most of my goals and KPIs to achieve a goal but then to transition to maintaining level of performance. You will see this in my charts in figures 1-3.

I was beginning at 50 or more pounds overweight and couldn’t run a mile in a decent time. My goal had to be set to be increasing or decreasing from where I actually started. My first step was to set “Weight”, “Miles Run”, and “Calories” targets that would take me to my maintenance area.

Weight: My first goal was to lose weight at a target of ½ pound per day until I lost 50 pounds or got to 167 lbs. To be honest I didn’t necessarily want to lose fifty pounds – but it would be more impressive when I was telling people about it and it looked good on my chart. I also didn’t necessarily want to lose weight continuously at ½ lb per day – but to taper off more slowly to transition from weight loss to maintenance. See Figure 1 Weight Plan and Weight trend lines.

Calories: I needed to control my calorie intake. I didn’t want to count sugar, carbs, or eat “special” foods. I am in sales and consulting. I eat out all the time and I intended to control my calorie intake without doing a radical diet. I recorded my calorie intake three times a day using www.calorieking.com as a guide to the amount of calories in everything. See Figure 2

Figure 2

You will also see on the chart above that wanted to increase my average calories intake over time. I felt that would be better for my ability to maintain my weight and to help ensure I got the fuel needed for running.

On a side note – I think McDonalds gets a lot of bad press about their food. A McDouble sandwich for $1.00 has only 410 calories. A small fries for $1.00 is only 231 calories. Add a small diet drink and you can have a fast lunch of only 641 calories for $3.00. Bottom line – many of us cannot maintain a special diet but tracking calories per day (www.CalorieKing.com) is good enough to keep us on track.

Running: Simultaneously, I set a goal to follow a plan to be able to run a marathon in six months. You will see my running chart in Figure 3. I met the goal of being prepared to run a marathon in six months. I ran several half marathon distances and beyond in training. The week before my scheduled marathon I ran the Paris Mountain 20K in Greenville, SC. Unfortunately, that run was enough to really inflame the very painful bursitis I had developed in my right hip. I am now running less but preparing for a marathon in February.

Figure 3

Beyond the right KPIs I needed the right tools and the right process to use the KPIs to achieve my goals.

The Tools:

• Scale – a good digital scale is best to get accurate and repeatable weight
• Measured routes to ensure distances are accurate
• www.CalorieKing.com website to ensure calories consumed are accurate
• Excel® for recording data and producing charts and graphs

The Process:

• Track your KPIs at the same time every day
• Record your KPIs every day
• Look at the performance charts every day – there is something special about “seeing” this data in a chart or trend.
• Use notes within your data entry tables to record anomalies

Visualization:

I want to add special emphasis on visualization. I personally feel that the right trends and graphs transfer information and motivate at an almost emotional level. KPI charts must be viewed every day by the people responsible for meeting those goals. I have heard of people publishing their weight loss to friends and family for motivation. If it works then do it but I feel that this type of goal is clearly only controlled by one individual. That one person should look everyday at the charts and graphs of the KPIs to achieve their goal.

Final notes:

I used business tools like KPIs and visual charts to help me lose weight, run better and thereby get in better health. I think the use of the KPIs and charts in a tool like Excel® will help others lose weight. But the same principles apply to achieving any goal – personal or professional.

Simplicity and Control are very important. Don’t complicate things. Pick the right key performance indicators on the following:

• Indicative of Performance that Results in Achieving Desired Goal
• Easy to Measure
• Easy to Chart/Graph and Visualize

Use notes and exceptions to explain anomalies in the charts rather than not recording the data. Things happen – we miss a run, Friday is pizza night, or we have bad raw materials. No one likes to chart failure even if they are the only ones seeing the information. It is very important to capture the information and add notes of why anomalies happen rather than ignore the information.

Visualization is more important than most people realize and too important to have last week’s data on bulletin board in the office. Whether it is weight loss or production rate the information should be seen – and understood – by those responsible in near real-time. Notes can explain anomalies but everyone should see how they are performing.

Kevin Totherow

Kevin Totherow is a Business Development Manager of MES for Schneider Electric and a consultant for helping manufacturing clients manage their operations better. Kevin has been a controls engineer, consultant and president of Sylution Incorporated. He can be reached at (864) 252-6819 or by email at kevin.totherow@schneider-electric.com.

If you are reading this article then likely you are the one that will figure out how to show real-time manufacturing information on the plant floor.  A logical place you may start will be with the tools you know best – of course that means HMI software. If the HMI shows the data in front of the operator for process control then it will be a good solution for Electronic Signage. It might be – but there is another solution that you might consider.

Mobiform’s Status Vision Designer helps people build applications that can be deployed in a PC or in server and shown in web browser. On one hand Status is a web-based HMI software that connects to controllers or historians via OPC to provide visualization of real-time and historical information along with the ability to control the process. It is different than most other HMI solutions in several ways.

1. Status can be deployed using only a web browser. This is very useful for electronic signage applications.
2. Status is inexpensive – really inexpensive.  $800 per concurrent user.
3. Status is built to for Electronic Signage. Use the built-in Scheduler to cycle a series of messages generated by the designer for real-time process KPIs, corporate visitor information, safety, and employee messages. The ticker feature included with Status lets you display web-based feeds such as stock market data, weather, news and or any other data.
4. Status can connect to get data from OPC servers, XML-DA, MSSQL, ODBC, the web, and custom data sources making it an excellent choice to show all of the information needed about the plant operation.
5. Finally, Status has some 70+ customizable UI Controls.

Sylution is excited about the Status Vision Designer. This software is so easy to use – you can watch online YouTube videos to learn how to accomplish most things without going to a training class.

If you need a tool to help you deliver Digital Signage or HMI then I suggest you consider Status Vision Designer.

Learn more at our site:  http://www.sylution.com/products/StatusVision.htm

Here is how Mobiform describes Status:

Manufacturing:

Mobiform’s Status Vision Designer® gives manufacturers a powerful data visualization and monitoring tool that will help reduce applications development time and operational costs while making the information gap between management and the production floor almost non-existent. Status makes it easy to monitor and control multiple shop floor processes from a single location and have immediate visibility to data trends, making it easy to anticipate potential problems.

With proper security through your IT network, Status makes it easy to monitor and control data available using built-in connectivity to OPC DA and XML-DA data sources. Status can also be easily extended to bind to other types of data.

Status publishes projects that can be viewed in Windows XP or Windows Vista using the Status Client. Projects can also be published directly to Silverlight web applications producing real-time visualization from a variety of web browsers or platforms. Managers and operators alike will become more efficient with access to data across a corporate intranet or the internet.

Digital Signage:

Status Vision Designer® is a powerful software design solution for your digital signage display needs. Using Status, companies can display meaningful real-time information such as sales or manufacturing figures or, using the built-in Scheduler, cycle a series of messages generated by the designer for corporate visitors, internal training or other employee messages. The ticker feature included with Status lets you display web-based feeds such as stock market data, weather, news and more.

Optimize your communications with Status. Present and remotely control your message from across the aisle or across the globe on any type of display including plasma or LCD screens, digital billboards or kiosks. Status Vision Designer® allows you to efficiently manage and deliver your digital signage content, saving you time and money.

It starts with data. Distributed Control Systems (DCS), Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) and even single loop controllers contain the intelligence of what is happening in the manufacturing process. These systems, once closed and proprietary, easily give up their data to any client software that can read an OPC server. Even the data from transmitters that is now going to those few legacy systems that are still closed can be captured by sending it to new Ethernet I/O systems. And in the case of discrete manufacturing the addition of external counters and photo-eyes can detect line downtime and performance intelligence cheaply and effectively. There is virtually no reason for a company to wait for infrastructure changes before they can get started with Real-time Performance Management Tools.

Real-time performance management is not about operator controls or historians for analysis of raw data. Real-time performance management is about collecting, analyzing, and organizing the right data in a model to show key performance indicators of the manufacturing business. They are in real-time to make them actionable to correct problems before the entire production day is lost. They are stored in history to see the operation by product, job, team, shift, and more to find and remove impediments meeting business goals.

Traditionally, real-time performance management systems have measured key performance indicators like OEE, TEEP, yield, MTBF, downtime, changeover, and more on discrete manufacturing and packaging lines. Systems ranged from simple machine statistics to advanced systems with web-based reports and dashboards providing sophisticated tools. Recently, systems like the TrakSYS™ solution by Parsec Automation have grown to encompass not just performance but total Operation Management tools to help manage batching, blending, formulation, materials, labor, and energy management. These systems capture the entire range of capabilities from performance management up to traditional manufacturing execution system (MES) functionality for those ready to implement a great platform for growth.

Systems stretching the envelope from great performance management to MES capabilities still leave those wanting to start with a basic solution without a good upgrade path. The facility that wanted to capture the low hanging fruit of basic performance management had to abandon their basic system to get a configurable system and custom reporting for their factory. No more.

Complete MES solutions that once were very expensive can now be purchased for only the modules needed and wanted. Solutions like Ampla from Schneider Electric are sold by module and now have several industy related quick-start packages offering pre-configured solutions. It is easier and cheaper than ever to put in the right system for long-term growth while solving a specific need with the budgets available today.

- Kevin Totherow

About the author:

Kevin Totherow is a Business Development Manager of MES for Schneider Electric and a consultant for helping manufacturing clients manage their operations better. Kevin has been a controls engineer, consultant and president of Sylution Incorporated. He can be reached at (864) 252-6819 or by email at kevin.totherow@schneider-electric.com.

Some managers may have trouble asking for funding of a performance management solution because they themselves have a fear that the system will not be fully used and managed to bring about the results desired. OPEX tools are different than buying a new dump truck or tank. Certainly, the new truck provides no value if it is not being used either – but everyone that has been part of the process in industry knows that buying more assets allows higher production even with higher waste. This is the opposite of LEAN – but it shows that justification is about proving value and not just showing a financial return.

This article uses a family decision to buy exercise equipment as a way to illustrate the justification of operational excellence tools. I use this example because exercise equipment is often bought on emotion and it is not typically associated with a clear justification and procedures to ensure that it will be used to accomplish a goal. I also hope that using this example will transcend business prejudices.

My intent is to produce a helpful article for guiding fully justifying tools that support operational excellence. I will cover justification of specific benefits of OPEX tools next month.

So you need to get in shape – get LEAN? Any method will get you there for a moment – this time you really need a way to sustain and remain LEAN. You need to get healthy systems in place. You need to be able to perform at a higher level – not work harder – eliminate waste and accomplish more. Great goals – and you feel that getting some new equipment, specifically a new treadmill, new digital scale, a blood pressure/heart-rate tester, and a computer with Excel will be the tools to get you in shape. Maybe. Before we spend the vacation money let’s go through a few steps.

Step 1: State your program goals that the equipment will help you achieve.

I am going to use the equipment to:

• lose 20 pounds in 15 weeks. I will do that by losing 10 pounds in the first five weeks and 10 pounds over the next 10 weeks.
• lower my resting heart-rate from 80 to 60 beats per minute in three months
• get off blood pressure medicine
• run a 10k in 60 minutes on January 1, 2011

These are good goals.

Step 2: State specifically how you will integrate the tools into standard work.

What if the specific use of the tool is something like, “I am going to run on the treadmill at night after work.” Then I have to say that I couldn’t invest until I see a better, more specific use of the tools.

What about these uses:

• I am going to set a target to follow a 24 week Marathon training schedule running on the treadmill come rain or shine.
• I am going to walk on the treadmill every night from 6:00 – 6:30 PM while watching the news.
• I am going to weigh myself every morning when I first wake up. Forever!
• I am going to take my blood pressure every morning just before breakfast until my blood pressure is well in the normal range for a year.
• I will record my running mileage per day in Excel along with my time for the run and the planned distance for the day.
• I will record my actual weight daily in Excel along with my goal plan weight.
• I will record my blood pressure and heart rate every day in Excel.
• I will create trend plots for all of my KPIs above and post them on Facebook for all my friends to see how I’m doing until I hit my goals.

Not bad on being specific – what if you don’t get the results expected?

Step 3: State how the tools will help you track and ensure success based on KPIs.

If you say something like, “I’ll be motivated by feeling better, then I’m not sold you will have staying power.

How about these steps and progress reports?

• I will use track key performance indicators such as Calorie intake, Weight, Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, running distance, mile/minute against my target over time. I will evaluate my progress on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and adjust my standard work to ensure that I meet my goals.

This sounds like something that I might be able to support.

Step 4: State why investing in the project is the only way to achieve the goals.

Why can’t you use the old bathroom scales?
You can go to Wal-Mart and use their blood pressure and heart rate machines.
Forget about a treadmill – just go run around the neighborhood.

These items have to be answered. Why is it better to own these new tools? This is the area where the more the merrier. Brainstorm.

1) The old scales are inconsistent and inaccurate at the low differences I need to detect while losing weight. I have tested them for several days and found the following:

• Placing the scale in different area of the floor gives a difference of five pounds.

• Standing on the old scale will give a different weight by up to 4 pounds if you step on the scale hard or easy or if you lean forward or backward.
• The old analog scale is hard to read to see a one pound difference in weight.
• The new digital scale measures accurately to the 10^th of a pound. Just what I need for charting my weight daily.

2) I can’t go to Wal-Mart and get consistent “at rest” readings on their machine

• My blood pressure goes up at Walmart just being there.
• My clothes interfere with the machine.
• I can’t be at Walmart at the same time every day.

3) I can’t run in the neighborhood safely and consistently.

• I don’t have to be scared of the neighbor’s dog or when it is dark early
• I will enjoy running when it is raining or very cold outside.
• I have the ability to control the distance and speed I am running.
• I can walk while watching the news.
• I will be embarrassed to run in public

4)I have consistently shown that current tools for measuring LEAN key performance indicators are not consistent and sustainable.

It is good to list all of the reasons without being too critical. You will edit these in the justification document. The bottom line – you have KNOW, and be able to explain to others, that the path you are advocating, buying the tools, is the best way to achieve the goals.

Step 5: Identify benefits for the new equipment and meeting the target goals.

How can you justify spending money for this equipment? What are the benefits?

Savings:

• Food costs. Difference of eating 4,500 Calories per day to eating 2,500 Calories per day is a 44% lower calorie intake. Therefore if you estimate that you spend $10/day on food at 4500 Calories then you can save $4.44/day during your weight loss time of 15 weeks. This means a savings on food of $466.20. The caloric intake should continue to be less than the starting point.
• Blood Pressure Medicine: $15/year with Co-pay
• Sleep Apnea: Condition improves greatly with weight loss. Hard to quantify direct savings unless you have had a sleep study or surgery to correct.
• Missed work: Not enough evidence to quantify – excess weight bringing on sleep apnea and low energy likely make this a potential savings.
• Insurance Costs: Not quantified
• Injury: Likelihood of injury during exercise or sports goes up when the adult participant is overweight. Getrichslowly.org, The High Cost of Being Fat, 18th October 2006 (by J.D. Roth)
• Blood Pressure Home Monitoring: Savings $60.00/year based on study in Medical Care, Vol. 30, No.9, Sept 1992
• Cost of Clothing: Expected to be 15% lower.

We have identified $541.20 in annual savings from getting in shape, losing weight, and monitoring blood pressure at home. We also identified some very likely additional savings that have not been quantified and some potential cost risks for not making the changes.

Earnings:

• Healthy/Energetic People Earn More
• Longer Life
• More Energy = More Accomplished

The George Washington University study on September 21, 2010, stated that the individual cost of being obese is $4,879 and $2,646 for women and men respectively, and adding the value of lost life to these annual costs produces even more dramatic results: $8,365 and $6,518 annually for women and men, respectively.

Potential earnings and savings could be $7, 059.20 based on $6,518.00 identified in the study plus the $541.20 in personally identified savings.

Non-Financially Quantifiable Benefits:
There are recognized benefits to improvement that the return is subjective, difficult or even impossible to quantify. However, the benefit is real and it should be in the justification – even if it is not in the Financial Justification.

Here are few we might include:

• Happier
• Look better
• Inspire others
• Higher Self-worth
• Higher Motivation
• Higher Confidence

Step 6: Discuss benefits with Owners and Project Champions

Meet with everyone that has a care or concern about your success. These are the people that will approve the program, benefit from your success, and those that fund the equipment purchases.

You have two objectives:

1. Review the program goals and get others to tell you the benefits they see from meeting your goals. Use your benefits and costs to generate discussion. Learn where others can benefit from your success and how they could justify the cost.
2. Lean how to meet the minimum financial justification for project approval. You have to meet all “Go/No GO” requirements in the right format. Do they want to see Net Present Cost justification, ROI, or IRR? What is their minimum return to fund a project? Learn where you might need to expand or contract the scope of the project to get the funding.

In our personal lean example you might interview your spouse, kids, parents and coworkers. Alleviating fear for your health from your spouse or getting the kids to be more proud of your athletic ability can be huge factors. It is an easier sell if others are glad that you have a plan in place for sustained results – even if it costs capital.

Sometimes we just can’t get capital even if the payback is huge. This is far less common that companies tell their employees – but it happens. Expanding the project to expand the benefits or distribute the cost is often an option. Sometimes scaling back on the project is acceptable too. But be careful not to promise anything during the information gathering phase.

Agreeing to get everything except the treadmill to get started and then get the treadmill next year if the program is successful may be enough to ensure that whole program fails if you cannot run at night or in bad weather.

The object is to listen and prod for intelligence of what these people want, will support and what they need to go to bat for your goals.

Step 7: Write justification emphasizing benefits supported by owners and champions.

The tools will have the best chance of being funded if:

• the benefits of achieving the goals are persuasive to those approving the project
• if the people that need to approve the project KNOW that you need to get the results and are pleased that you have a well conceived plan.
• the tools are shown to be crucial to achieving and sustaining results
• the methods to use the tools include KPIs that are clear, easily audited, and believable by those funding the project.
• the tools can meet the minimum payback required for capital expenditure

Include all of the information we discussed in the Justification Document. Make if flow well and tell a story of ensured success based on the input from those that must approve the project.

Make sure that you hit all “Go/No Go” steps. Particularly, present the financial return in the right form ROI. IRR, etc. at the right level so that it is not questioned.

Summary:

Justification of Operational Excellence tools is not difficult. However, it is different than justifying other assets because many people that will approve the project do not understand how it will be used to achieve business goals. The justification should layout the whole story – to guide those that will approve the expenditure to show them the capital will provide identifiable, auditable results and meet their financial justification thresholds.

A recommended 7 step method for justification of OPEX tools is as follows:

Step 1: State your program goals that the equipment will help you achieve.
Step 2: State specifically how you will integrate the tools into standard work.
Step 3: State how the tools will help you track and ensure success based on KPIs.
Step 4: State why investing in the project is the only way to achieve the goals.
Step 5: Identify benefits for the new equipment and meeting the target goals.
Step 6: Discuss benefits with owners and champions.
Step 7: Write justification emphasizing benefits supported by owners and champions.

I will cover some specific benefits for OPEX Tools next month.

Kevin Totherow

Kevin Totherow is a Business Development Manager of MES for Schneider Electric and a consultant for helping manufacturing clients manage their operations better. Kevin has been a controls engineer, consultant and president of Sylution Incorporated. He can be reached at (864) 252-6819 or by email at kevin.totherow@schneider-electric.com.

The purpose of this article is to list ten great tools that will help every manufacturing and process company better support operational excellence initiatives that include LEAN, Six Sigma, 5S, and more.

In no particular order here are my Top 10 Tools that Support Operational Excellence Initiatives.

10) Ethernet I/O Systems: Don’t wait until you can change out or update old controllers or control systems. The tools in the rest of this list need to know what is happening in the process and on the manufacturing floor. You can easily and inexpensively get this information today by using Ethernet I/O Systems or inexpensive PLCs as data collection only. You can even series the transmitter loops going to existing controllers through the new I/O system and read that old data through Ethernet.

9) OPC Servers: OPC-DA, OPC-HDA, OPC-UA, etc are standard communication I/O servers to get data from existing controllers, historians, databases, etc and make that data available to new systems like human-machine interfaces, historians, manufacturing execution systems, manufacturing and business intelligence systems and more. OPC makes it possible to get data from almost any legacy system into great tools for Operational Excellence!

8 ) Web-based HMI: Traditionally the human-machine interface system (HMI) sometimes referred to as a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) gets data from I/O systems or directly from the operator. It displays real-time and trend information from field instrumentation to the operator for decision making. NEW web-based HMI systems can also get data from relational databases or any process historian and to make operational web-based dashboards for manufacturing managers. Our tools not only alarm locally but can text or email alerts. These modern, inexpensive tools are our new operational excellence dashboards for management.

7) Process Historians: These guys read the real-time data from continuous processes like level, pressure, temperature, conductivity, etc. They can read the value, time stamp it, and store it in a compressed data file for fast retrieval. These tools replaced the old pen and ink chart recorders and now power the trending that runs the process and utilities. They also provide the data warehouse for much of the data that is generated in manufacturing and process industries.

6) Open OPC Client Tools: If the control systems and Process historians communicate via OPC standards then there are now hundreds if not thousands of OPC Client Tools available to industry. These include HMI, Loop Tuning, Trending, Reporting, SPC Solutions, and many more that can be used with any other vendor. Open OPC Client Tools are a class of software and represent the interoperability of solutions to give the end user the best tool for his/her need.

5) Alarm Management Tools: I tell people that the electronic control systems invented in the 1970s that came of age in the 1980s and 1990s actually created the nuisance alarm. Today, all HMI products have alarming and an alarm database. Many companies inundate operators with dozens of alarms per shift and many of them are not critical but fit in the “I think you should be aware of this” category. Nuisance alarms, rate/number of alarms, time to acknowledge and clear alarm conditions are all manufacturing KPIs that should be tracked. Alarm management software makes it possible for the engineer to search the alarm databases and begin to find and correct bad actors.

4) SPC Tools: Statistical Process Control is a long recognized operational excellence tool. The problem was the amount of work in getting data for analysis. Today, SPC solutions can capture data automatically from controls and user tools can initiate alerts, emails and pop-up standard operating procedures. SPC is a great performance management tool.

3) LEAN Pull Tools: Lean pull is a well defined concept in manufacturing. Many facilities have implemented and work to use a Kanban pull methodology. The problem is that simple manual Kanban systems may not work well in high mix manufacturing. Today, software tools are available that work with ERP and factory floor systems to allow using the right Pull methodology (Kanban, CONWIP, Drum-Buffer-Rope) to keep the process lean in all manufacturing environments.

2) Visualization Tools: This is huge. Today we have a choice on the plant floor of using Ethernet LED Marquees, inexpensive large-format LCD computers, thin-clients or configurable appliances to get real-time performance and manufacturing intelligence to and from the plant floor. Everyone should be working off the same version of the truth and it should be calculating the Key Performance Indicators in real-time and broadcasting this via the company intranet so the user only needs a web browser!

My number 1 tool – Real-time Operational Management Systems/MES: This class of software is growing at an exponential rate. Real-time Operational Management systems scale from line OEE/Downtime solutions that show performance by shift/job to fully capable solutions that show energy management, labor, material consumption, electronic batch records, alerting, and reporting on via a web browser. Real-time operational management tools are used by everyone in the business of manufacturing a product. They gather data from real-time sources via OPC and databases, calculate KPIs and important events based on a configured model, store the data in the system model to produce real-time and historical reports of performance for immediate correction as well as root-cause analysis. The best of them have very good web portals to display data from their system but can also display data from process historians and databases directly to the visualization system!

There it is – my top ten tools for improving and sustaining operational excellence in manufacturing and process industries. Feel free to write and tell me what you think about the list and what I missed!

Kevin Totherow is a Business Development Manager of MES for Schneider Electric and a consultant for helping manufacturing clients manage their operations better. Kevin has been a controls engineer, consultant and president of Sylution Incorporated. He can be reached at (864) 252-6819 or by email at kevin.totherow@schneider-electric.com.

The term workshop denotes a team “hands on” or an interactive working session. If you go to a photography seminar you expect to hear about photography and see pictures. If you attend a photography workshop you expect to take some pictures.

Sylution Incorporated is a value added reseller of performance management and lean tools and services. The difference between a meeting and a workshop to us is often the value we can quickly bring to a client in working through solutions to their real problems and opportunities. The workshop approach that Sylution uses is focused on improvement objectives and return for meeting those objectives. We have seen manufacturing facilities that were running to Key Performance Indicators that they had no capability to influence nor could they even know for several days after the fact. We have worked with very highly skilled, intelligent clients that didn’t know how easy it could be to see the right KPI like OEE – or how to interpret that KPI to find areas of improvement in the operation.

To make the workshop work well the client organization should have representatives from engineering/operational excellence, operations management, process controls and possibly maintenance to get more than one perspective or interpretation of needs and return. Sylution Consultants provide a workshop agenda that is mixed with lecture, discussions, and exercises. The consultants participating in the workshop can instantly answer questions about relative cost of different options and time to implement as well as insight from other projects. It causes discussions that lead to prioritizing objectives; and great insight to rank and payback of various objectives – even if there is more work to be done outside the workshop.

A workshop is never free. Everyone must contribute time for the meeting and preparation so that everyone brings in relative domain expertise and information. But the rewards can be high too. Participants will have a much better understanding of their problems, opportunities, and the ability, cost and ROI for correcting the correction of the problem. In short, a workshop is one step toward allowing the client to determine a solution to his problem that he may need to buy – rather than talking to vendors and being sold a solution. The company that uses a workshop approach can achieve a goal efficiently and effectively.

Sylution presents workshops on OEE, Process Intelligence, and in conjunction with our partner Invistics – a workshop on LEAN Pull Design. It is not necessary to hire Sylution to conduct a workshop for your team. This can be accomplished by other consultants but I do highly suggest that the workshop is conducted by an outside consultant with a lot of broad experience and examples. The important things that we cover are as follows:

Performance Improvement: Review Initiatives and Current Metrics

Define: Define OEE and its use with TPM and “world class” manufacturing

Acquire: How to get real-time data from existing systems and people

Analyze and Organize: Real-time intelligence in the format needed to achieve goals

Presentation: Present the right actionable intelligence to the people that can act on it

Empowerment: Improved performance without working harder

Success and ROI

OEE Workshop Information

Process Intelligence Workshop Details

A manufacturer makes money by producing and selling something. The manufacturer should be selling the unit for more than it cost to make it to be sustainable – but a manufacturer cannot save their way to profits. Cutting and saving leads to antiquated methods and the inability to adapt. A manufacturer must make their product and sell profitably in bad times as well as good. The opportunity that presents itself in lean times is to get good at producing exactly what will sell, when it will sell, at a cost lower than the selling price.

Let’s go back to our manufacturer that is at 25% of last year’s production levels. This manufacturer is doing a lot of things right. They are reducing the warehouse inventory, bringing work back into the plant from contract manufacturing, and they are running less and taking “Dark Days” where they shut down the factory for a week or more per quarter. But, these things will not help them make a product that will sell at a profit. Do they have a chance to increase company profits by better manufacturing performance management to real-time metrics?

Probably. We can say yes or no a little more definitely with a study but here are three of their opportunities they have to make more money:

• The company bought a new injection molding machine to bring work back into the plant. They need to get this machine working at nominal ratings for speed and quality as soon as possible after installation. A real-time performance system can help them do this quickly and very effectively and allow the manufacturer to sustain their performance.
• The company needs to actually increase the efficiency of the manufacturing operation right now to keep production at its highest while employees are being paid and they are running equipment. Make good product fast and then shut down to take more down days saving labor and energy costs.
• Finally, the manufacturer can use real-time performance management tools to measure and reduce change-over times with the constraint machines on the line – such as that new injection molding machine Lowering the change-over time hurts increases operating time and therefore productivity but it also adds to the manufacturing agility. The plant with a faster change-over/setup can schedule production for more change-overs profitably. This increase in change-overs hurts the plant OEE metrics but greatly helps the company schedule a higher mix of products on the lines – thus reducing inventory and getting the right product to a customer. This is the ultimate solution for a manufacturer producing the product that can sell quickly at a profit.

This is lean manufacturing. It is profitable in lean times and incredibly profitable in good times.

The question is will the facilities trying to save their way to profits with “across the board” cuts in spending be able to compete with Lean operations during an extended downturn or when the economy picks up again?

Kevin Totherow is a Business Development Manager of MES for Schneider Electric and a consultant for helping manufacturing clients manage their operations better. Kevin has been a controls engineer, consultant and president of Sylution Incorporated. He can be reached at (864) 252-6819 or by email at kevin.totherow@schneider-electric.com.