Maximizing Production Line Efficiency

Sept. 20, 2012 - PRLog -- US manufacturing has been moving north or south of the border and overseas for more than a decade, and the structure of our manufacturing economy has been changing as a result.

Remaining US manufacturers have to compete with lower International labor costs, cheaper manufacturing techniques and most importantly fewer rules and regulations.

Ultimately it is critical that remaining US manufacturers must maximize their production line efficiencies to remain competitive in this rapidly evolving global economy.

Enter a forward thinking Orange County, California based company, A1 Webcams, who has risen to the challenging task of helping US employers to maximize production and manufacturing throughput, minimizing line stoppages and interruptions, while cutting costs and streamlining each departmental section of the line to enable US manufacturers and production to grow competitively.

Using A1 Webcams Production Line Monitoring systems, customers can upgrade every departmental component of a manufacturing process to its most productive level of efficiency.



Production Line Monitoring

A1 Webcams initially began developing Production Line Monitoring (Video) systems in 2005, after an initial enquiry from a Division of Procter & Gamble which was having a problem with (vendor) quality control of pallets. The company (P & G) was experiencing production line stoppages as a result of palletizer machines sensing broken or dirty pallets, sending an alarm and shutting down the machine, ultimately closing down that line until the faulty pallet had been removed.

The on‐flow effect of the stopping the palletizer meant that the preceding areas of production would likely also be affected, causing ripple effect shutdowns and ultimately decreasing overall production capacity.



An Initial System Solves Root Cause

It all began with an initial eight station monitoring system which focused on the palletizer, at the end of one line, to identify and prove to the vendor that quality of pallets was not being met.

By monitoring the palletizer for just one week the supervisor was able to prove to the pallet supplier that they were under performing by supplying a very small percentage of broken and dirty pallets. The A1 Webcams Production Line Monitoring (PLM) system recorded every aspect of the week’s production, including stoppages, and was able to quickly access the root cause of the problem.

Using the A1 Webcams PLM system to replay every incident, P&G was able to immediately diagnose and prove the reason for each and every stoppage to the pallet supplier. As a direct result, the pallet supplier improved their own performance and quality control and the problem was very quickly resolved, saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.

By addressing a small percentage problem with the supplier, the company was able to save much more in improved productivity. The pallet stoppage problem went from regular stops almost every hour to no pallet damage stops.



Expanding Production Line Efficiency

With more than sixteen different production lines throughout the facility, it was very quickly determined that a PLM system on every palletizer was easily cost‐justified. Within 6 months of the initial system, all palletizers were equipped with an A1 Webcams PLM system.

From there it was expanded to offer other department’s full corporate visibility of their section of production with full capability to view, record and playback for a day, week or a month to assess production quality and efficiency issues. It was important for the whole company to have full visibility of their production line. Ultimately, it costs people, time and money for staff to walk 200 yards to view a potential issue, when there any many savings and efficiencies if they can address many areas from one location. With the added ability to view from a monitor at the location, or through their secure intranet website from a local or remote location, or from smart phone, the company is always able to witness productivity of their site.



High Speed Vision Cameras compared to Production Line Monitoring Systems

There is a critical difference! High Speed Vision Cameras in a production line environment are most often used to measure single item area or count very fast, small items and very small images. A1 Webcams PLM systems cover a wide area and diverse number of events.

High Speed Vision cameras are usually very expensive for each individual camera, as compared to a PLM system which usually has 8 or 16 cameras viewing and recording for less than or a similar price to a single vision camera.

HS Vision Cameras require a lot of bandwidth for image processing and are extremely limited for review and image storage capacity. A1 Webcams PLM systems have large storage capacity capable of many days, weeks or months of visual reference detail for root cause analysis, comparison and review.



Real Time Results and Immediate Payoff

Real‐time production line efficiency modifications, enhancements and changes are now feasible using A1 Webcams PLM systems to synchronistically enable total visibility, of the key components and sections of the entire production line, at any time to anyone.

Key operators and supervisors are able to meet and review on a daily or weekly, pre or post shift basis, to view and discuss footage of issues to find solutions. No longer speculative reasoning, solutions can be determined from real time visibility of the problem, replayed and viewable anywhere, anytime.



The Big Advantage

In the competitive global financial climate which we now face, production line manufacturers are challenged to a hostile market of competitive international alternatives. It is now necessary for US manufacturers to seriously accept that they can again become the powerhouse of global manufacturing.

There is, however, a key requirement to ensure that every stage of production is being performed at the highest level of performance within the manufacturing and production line process. Like the country’s leading global manufacturers and producers, every process and economy should be under the microscope.

A1 Webcams Production Line Monitoring systems offer the ultimate economic value for performance to enable US manufacturers and producers to most efficiently address every stage of the production line process.