Organise All Your Factory Operations In One Place
26th January 2023
Adam Payne, Co-Founder of Factory IQ and a manufacturing consultant with 25+ years working in operations, explains why he and Peter Spiby of 4C Software built a new software platform to assist operations managers to bring structure to the ball juggling.
How to Track Production & Monitor Shopfloor Performance
Many manufacturers lose sleep trying to figure out how best to monitor their production. They look at a variety of different options, from tools that are too expensive, too clunky, or that are not suited for their particular challenge, or problem. And then there are tools that try to do too much and end up overcomplicating things (I’ve seen too many of these) — and those are a big no-no for operations that need clear, concise information about what's going on with the shopfloor.
I've personally been in those shoes myself. I've struggled with keeping track of my resources and inventory. What I thought was being worked on, was not, I didn’t know how they were performing, or what product was going out the door on any given day. When your production processes are in disarray, you can feel like a prisoner in your own company. I had Excel spreadsheets, whiteboards, magnetic notice boards—but still felt overwhelmed, out of control, and under constant pressure from customers.
This confusion and lack of transparency made it really very difficult to find solutions and to adjust when something went wrong. In fact, it often felt like running blindfolded through a crowded shopfloor: I didn't know who or what I could trust.
5 Features Every Production Monitoring Tool Should Have
When you run busy manufacturing operations, that kind of uncertainty can be devastating — it can also result in lost sales opportunities, wasted money, and unhappy customers.
But there are ways to alleviate the uncertainty of your operations, and when you have a clear idea of what's happening on the shopfloor, you will see improvements across the board.
The real question is: what does a good production monitoring tool look like? What features would make your life easier, and give you more control over your manufacturing process? Here is my list of the top 5 features you should be looking for in a production monitoring tool:
- Configurable dashboards
- Real-time status and overviews
- Configurable alerts
- Data exports
- Role-based access control
FactoryIQ: Managing Your Operations in The Digital Age
FactoryIQ is a cloud-based operations management system that monitors and tracks production on-site. It provides real time notifications and updates, as well as providing automatic data upload/download from all devices, allowing for paper-less processes.
FactoryIQ has been enhanced to take Production Scheduling, Asset and Production Monitoring to the next level. As well powerful production scheduling, it has notification/alert capability, paperless options for all documents including Standard Works Instructions, Risk Assessments, HS&E tracking, and much more.
If you are looking to drive Productivity, Efficiency and Profitability please take a look - there is no better Digital Operations Management Software.