Systems for the analysis of production times and their importance for industrial plant managers

Do you have key performance indicators identified within your production plant? Do you use response times to measure progress? Do you know the availability of your work equipment? How many improvements have you driven in the last 6 or 12 months based on time analysis? Are you prepared to launch and implement production time monitoring and optimization?

These questions are important to understand the significance of having a production time analysis system. The keys or improvements you can achieve for your plant's production lines.

What improvements can you achieve with a production time analysis system?

• Unexpected event log.
• Cost reduction and time optimization. In the end, time is money, and the more optimized production lines are, the more interesting the ROI of implementing production time analysis systems will be.
• Increase in information levels will give you a much more complete view, allowing you to control everything in detail.
• Quick response to contingencies.
• Scalable alerts among company management. This type of alert reaches line supervisors, production managers, executives, and other positions responsible for intelligent production decision-making.

Andon as a system for improving plant performance with time analysis

Andon systems group together a set of practical production communication and visual management measures for the purpose of clearly and simply displaying visual and/or audible alerts. These alerts are simple for users and allow for a visual representation in the analysis of results, segmenting monitored productive times.

An Andon system should be simple for field users in analyzing times. For example, it should allow them to know how long the maintenance department takes to resolve a problem or how long the quality department takes to check a parameter. The information it provides must be as accurate as possible for decision-making, prioritizing tasks, and achieving objectives more quickly.

Departments such as quality, maintenance, materials, and production sometimes have internal communication problems and don't quite agree on points like:

• Who or how is production information recorded?
• How can time indicators be reviewed? Often, indicator records are manual, which carries a high risk of human error.
• Determine if the process you want to control adds value. It is important to understand what value monitoring a production line brings.
• What action should be taken according to the indicator's information?

Through visual communication, users of the Andon system will understand why value-generating processes are being delayed, improve response times, enhance work planning (planned and unplanned downtime), and help technicians decide how to carry out their maintenance actions. Above all, it will contribute to order and organization in production, reducing costs because the system becomes more efficient.

With an Andon system, technicians will have less downtime with smoother workflows, which ultimately helps the plant and line have fewer stops. Once the process is identified, it can be quantified and then translated into an action plan that ultimately offers continuous improvement. Andon systems allow us to understand areas of opportunity..

To have a visual and/or audible communication system

A visual and/or audible communication system allows for viewing the entire production line with green, yellow, and red indicators or any customizable color code. The system is capable of notifying everyone about potential abnormalities within a process when support or attention is needed. In this case, the Andon system for production processes It allows us to know how the general line is functioning and where to focus or pay more attention. It also lets us know who is responsible for each work shift and production line. For example, we can see how many calls maintenance has received, who is handling each one, and how long it took to respond. A lot of information can be displayed very visibly and in real time.

Ultimately, an Andon system allows for:

• Visibility and transparency in the production process.
• Greater productivity and efficiency.
• Waste reduction.

The graphs offered by systems for analyzing production times are very visual and useful information. For example, in a work shift, you can see the number of calls per department in a pie chart where the total calls for maintenance, quality, materials, and production are represented. Another very useful graph that can be offered is one in a bar format that represents the accumulated time of calls per department and how it has been executed. The important thing is that the system allows for filters by area/subarea or line to which the stations belong, and to know for each of them the number of calls generated or the top 10 stations that represent areas of opportunity. Color-coded identification allows you to know how long a line has been stopped due to maintenance, quality, or material actions. This way, actions and decisions can be taken more quickly.

We have seen that visual management through systems for analyzing production times is a work strategy that involves applying various techniques and tools based on graphics and colors to processes, so that technicians and line supervisors can quickly understand the meaning or status of the information being conveyed. Humans process information through our various senses, with sight having the highest perception at 83 %, followed by hearing at 11 %, smell at 4 %, and touch and taste at 2 %. Visual management is based on simplifying communication by separating what is important from what is not—that is, the areas that require more attention than the rest.

What is not measured cannot be controlled. At ULTATEK, we offer a wide range of visual signage solutions that, along with our Production monitoring and traceability systems, provide the ideal solution for increasing the safety and productivity of all types of industrial projects. If you want to learn more about real examples of production time analysis systems and how they can positively impact your plant, we invite you to watch the following video: Critical Visual/Audible Aid Systems in Production Time Control.