Lawrence Housel, Information Systems Manager, Industrial Mold and Machine
Category
- Future of Work
The Project
Using Enterprise 2.0 software and tablets we have successfully expanded our information system out to the shop floor of our manufacturing facility. With access to “instant information” in a collaborative environment our manufacturing team has made unprecedented gains in production.
Lawrence participated in a webinar about this project on 9/26. Check it out: The Real-Time Information Revolution: Coming to a Tool Shop Near You
The Technology
Socialtext & iPads
Metrics Matter
The bulk of our product is created by cutting metal in our CNC machines so the department was a good starting point to track production gains. The basic idea is, when spindles are cutting metal we are making money so we installed monitors on the machines and we began tracking spindle run times. The attached graph shows we have been able to more than double our uptime in less than a year. This metric is also a powerful indicator of collaboration levels within the organization because a high functioning team is needed to insure material and information arrive at the machines at precisely the right time.
Disruptive Factor
Expanding our information system to the shop floor creates a new model for IT in manufacturing environments. The PCs at desks and the tablets on the shop floor access the same web based information system. Not only does this break down silos and supercharge teamwork, it also creates a host of new analytics that give a manufacturing organization a much deeper understanding of how it creates it product.
Shining Moment
The infrastructure we have in place has lessened the burden that IT typically places on the shop floor of a manufacturing facility. We used to have kiosks scattered around and production staff had to leave their natural workflow to find information or report actions. Today tablets make rich information portable and instant. Furthermore, collecting analytics on how information is being consumed allows realtime access to the current state of the shop floor without production staff being required to constantly report it.
ABOUT Industrial Mold and Machine
Industrial Mold & Machine was founded in 1988 with the vision of providing high end CNC surfacing and programming services to mold manufactures and job shops. At the time offsite mainframe computers generated all complicated surface programming for machining. Industrial Mold & Machine helped pioneer the idea of bringing PC based technology to the average machine shop. Soon we weren't just supplying data, we found ourselves building complete molds for a variety of industries. What set us apart was our ability to build almost anything from blow molds and close tolerance injection molds. We have continued to leverage technology to build a better product over the years and have become an industry leader on using the right technology to build better together.