Discrete manufacturing and job shops
Manufacturing
Discrete manufacturing plants usually have the widest machine mix of any sector — presses, CNCs, welders, assembly stations and packing lines from a dozen makers and four decades. That mix is exactly why visibility is hard, and exactly why a retrofit approach matters more here than anywhere else.
What goes wrong
Typical problems in manufacturing
If more than two of these are familiar, there is a first project here worth doing.
- 01
Output is counted manually and reconciled the next day
- 02
The stated bottleneck is based on opinion rather than measurement
- 03
Micro-stops are invisible but cumulatively larger than the recorded stoppages
- 04
Changeover time varies by hours depending on who runs it
- 05
Every machine is a different brand with a different interface and no common data
What we build
Solutions for manufacturing
- 01
Machine monitoring across mixed equipment
Automatic state and count capture from any machine — via its PLC where one exists, via current and proximity sensing where it does not — normalised into one model.
- 02
Downtime and reason capture
Stops detected automatically, reasons captured by the operator in seconds, and Pareto analysis that shows where the time actually goes.
- 03
OEE with defensible numbers
Availability, performance and quality tracked separately with documented assumptions, so the figure survives scrutiny in a review meeting.
- 04
Line and cell automation
Sequencing, interlocking and integration between machines that currently run independently.
- 05
Production tracking software
Work orders, schedule adherence and actual-versus-plan driven by machine data rather than by status updates.
Technology
What is typically involved
- PLC tag reads from Siemens, Allen-Bradley, Mitsubishi, Delta
- Current transformers for state detection on unmanaged machines
- Proximity and photoelectric counters
- Energy meters per machine or feeder
- Shop-floor tablets for reason codes and changeover
- Time-series database with per-machine, per-shift, per-product context
Outcomes
What changes
Described rather than quantified — we do not publish numbers we have not measured for you.
- The real constraint becomes measurable rather than debated
- Short stops become visible for the first time
- Shift and machine comparison on a like-for-like basis
- Changeover variation exposed and reducible
- Production reporting that no longer requires manual assembly
Capabilities
Most relevant here
- Machine MonitoringReal-time machine, production and downtime monitoring with OEE.
- Industrial IoTGet data off your machines — existing PLCs, new sensors, or both.
- Industrial AutomationControl system design, panel engineering, machine and line automation.
- Industrial DashboardsReal-time plant dashboards for the floor, the office and the phone.
- PLC ProgrammingPLC development, migration, integration and troubleshooting.
Questions
Manufacturing — common questions
We have twelve machines from eight makers. Can they all be monitored?
Yes, and this is the normal case rather than the difficult one. Machines with a controller are read over their native protocol; machines without one are instrumented externally with a current transformer and a counting sensor. All of it is normalised into a single model, so the dashboard does not care what brand a machine is.
What is the smallest sensible first project?
One line or three to five machines, typically live within a few weeks. That is enough to prove the data, get operators used to reason codes, and produce genuine findings — while being small enough that a wrong assumption is cheap to correct.
Tell us about your manufacturing plant
What runs on your floor, and what you cannot currently answer. We will tell you what is readable today and what a first phase would involve.