How AD Hawk used Amper to incentivize and transform labor performance

About AD Hawk

AD Hawk is a CNC factory that manufactures premium precision machine parts. Operating out of one location with a team of 26 employees, AD Hawk uses Amper across 14 machines to ensure 24/7 productivity.

Challenges

AD Hawk’s manual processes meant they had poor visibility into machine utilization, labor, bottlenecks, and downtime drivers. While these were all pain points they hoped Amper could solve, their primary goal was to motivate operators to optimize machine utilization and ensure consistent productivity.

The solution: Using Amper data for operator training and incentives

Choosing Amper was easy. AD Hawk President Dave Meares liked Amper because it was simple yet comprehensive. It wasn’t a hassle to install and it could monitor old and new machines. 

Once AD Hawk started getting real-time insights into their production, Meares immediately got to tackling their main goal. With Amper's paperless reporting tool, Meares exported data into Excel and then analyzed machine utilization by operators. These exercises yielded several positive outcomes:

1. Improved labor visibility: Amper’s operational insights helped AD Hawk dispel misconceptions rooted in poor visibility, such as, “My machines never stopped running!” This cast a lot more clarity into the reality of machine downtime. Insights from Amper also helped allocate and redistribute manpower as required.

2. Focused training: Amper's data assisted in providing targeted training to operators, ensuring they were well-aware of machine statuses and performance metrics.
   

3. Utilization increase: Consistent downtime labeling helped identify production bottlenecks and informed the projects needed to tackle common issues. Because the projects were focused and data-driven, overall efficiency rose.
   

4. Fewer disruptions: Amper’s automated downtime alerts ensured rapid fixes and minimized production disruptions. Streamlining this part of production also contributed to the shop’s increased efficiency.

The high-impact bonus program

The best outcome of all was in terms of labor performance. Meares introduced a highly successful bonus program based on Amper data to incentivize operators. 

Bonuses are computed biweekly based on machine utilization per operator. This flexible system takes into account downtime reasons, break durations, shift durations, number of machines manned, and machine run times, ensuring fairness and motivation for operators to excel. 

The utilization-based incentive structure is as follows:

70% to 74.9% = Total # machines ran * $5
75% to 79.9% = Total # machines ran * $7
80% to 84.9% = Total # machines ran * $9
85% to 89.9% = Total # machines ran * $11
90%+ = Total # machines ran * $13

Takeaways 

AD Hawk fully embraced the idea of not just monitoring their shop with Amper, but running it on Amper. By leaning into factory-wide adoption and integrating Amper into its culture, AD Hawk saw a surge in efficiency, streamlined operations, and a rise in company value. 

This goes to show how impactful it is to use data to synchronize every element of your plant. Instead of tackling disparate issues, AD Hawk had a more holistic view and used amper in a way that had a beneficial ripple effect throughout its production.

Amper could be a real game-changer in your plant. Drop us a line and let’s talk about your potential!