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Plex Manufacturing Blog
Improving Operator Efficiency with Asset Performance Management KPIs
Operators and front-line supervisors are critical in keeping equipment running smoothly in any industrial setting. They spend hours controlling machinery, monitoring its performance, making adjustments, and intervening when necessary.Often, operators are intuitively aware of issues with their machines. They quickly learn each machine's quirks and their normal and abnormal performance. While this…
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Beating the Devil in the Details
Imagine driving down a dark road at night. You're cruising along, listening to the radio, and suddenly, your engine dies. You look down and see the “Check Engine” light as you ease to a stop on the side of the road.If your car is older, the technology on board may tell you nothing other than that your engine has a problem. If you're lucky, and your car's onboard technology is a bit more advanced…
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Clearing Your Manufacturing Hurdles with the Right Software
On your mark.Get set.Go!As the starting gun cracks, athletes streak down the track to clear hurdles in a race to the finish line. Some will clear them all, others will knock over one or two, and one athlete might seem incapable of getting the rhythm, height, and pace correct and crashes into them all....
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Key Takeaways from the Smart Manufacturing Software Buyer's Guide
With advanced technology driving industrial digitization across the globe, companies are reaching new heights in efficiency, process optimization, and other revolutionary achievements unheard of even a few years ago.To stay competitive, it's essential to identify superior solutions that align your company with all these technologies. But choosing the best software solution to accomplish this isn’…
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Walking a Tightrope: How Automotive Manufacturers Find Balance in Digital Transformation
Watching aerial artists walk a tightrope is both thrilling and nerve-wracking. Whether over a raging waterfall, between skyscrapers, or across cliffs, we marvel at the skill and balance of the person on the rope....
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How Smart Manufacturing Lets You Create the KPIs You Need
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are essential for manufacturing. They are signposts that help you determine which areas of your operation are performing to expectations and which need improvement.But KPIs can be challenging to create if you’re unsure what data points you should track or if your manufacturing operation has unique requirements based on your industry, level of connectivity, or…
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Using a Smart Manufacturing Platform to Empower Overall Equipment Effectiveness
Manufacturing equipment is one of the most expensive costs for any manufacturer. These machines have long lifespans, and companies strive to achieve the shortest ROI to justify their expenses. Once a machine is in place, how it’s utilized, operated, and maintained will drive production output.One powerful tool for managing equipment utilization is overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). With the…
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Cure Your Downtime Blues with Smart Platform Views
Efficiency and downtime are two of the most recognized words in manufacturing. These two words are taught and enforced formally and informally from the executive boardroom to floor supervisors to an operator in their first week on the job.While efficiency has a lot of variables and is calculated as creating as many finished units with the least amount of resources, downtime appears to be simple…
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ERP KPIs: Not Just for Execs Anymore
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software helps companies manage their core business processes, including HR, finance, supply chain, and manufacturing. Companies can manage their business processes more efficiently by integrating them into a single software solution.Today, most ERP systems are cloud based and use cutting-edge technology like AI and machine learning to deliver insights to…
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What Your Clipboard Won’t Tell You, Your Data Will
At the time, it seemed like a good idea. Write down if there are any breakdowns, stoppages, changeovers, or anything that makes a machine stop. Write the time, the date, the reason, and how long it took to restart. Oh, and if you have any scrap from a startup, write that down by pounds and material type on another form. In its day, this method was helpful because it was the beginning of modern-…
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