Excessive machine downtime is a costly challenge for manufacturers—including SWD Inc., a recognized leader in the metal finishing, dip coat spinning, and fastener sorting industry.
SWD attributes its ongoing success to a commitment to production quality, customer satisfaction, and environmental conservation. The company was awarded both the National Performance Review's "Hammer Award" for environmental excellence and the Illinois State Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award.
However, despite its visionary leadership and meticulous attention to detail, SWD struggled with excessive machine downtime and setup times. That changed in January 2019 when the company implemented Amper’s machine monitoring solution.
Karyme Molina, SWD's Operations Transformation Leader, said, “Immediately, our level of insight increased, and the quality of our data improved.” SWD also noticed that thanks to Amper they were able to:
Amper reduced the amount of time managers spend collecting data from up to five hours per week to just 20 minutes per week—and the customer service is really good.
— Karyme Molina, Operations Transformation Leader
“We knew our machines were experiencing too much downtime, but we couldn’t measure it,” says Karyme Molina. “We had no immediate visibility into what was occurring on the shop floor.”
Managers had no way of knowing when a machine went down, let alone why. They would only learn of equipment breakdowns when someone would catch a stoppage while walking the factory floor.
It would generally take 30-60 minutes for a manager to be alerted to problems, followed by up to an hour of information gathering. Managers had to go to extraordinary lengths—gathering data and interviewing staff—before breakdowns could be addressed.
As a result, each manager spent 2.5-5 hours every week collecting information on breakdowns alone. Adding to the wasted time, Molina says, “We knew machine setup was taking too long and wasn’t standardized from operator to operator. We wanted to be able to create standards for setup times between jobs and shifts.”
Furthermore, because they weren’t keeping written records of repairs, teams had to rely on memory and word-of-mouth when diagnosing problems. Due to the factory’s size and the three-shift schedule, managers had little real-time insight—let alone big-picture oversight—into their OEE.
Molina and her team recognized that in order to improve efficiency, they had to be able to measure it. SWD needed a machine monitoring system that would alert them to equipment breakdowns in real-time, use objective data to identify causes, and track machine performance.
After investigating various solutions, they chose Amper for its ease of use and do-it-yourself installation. Unlike systems that require professional onsite installation, manufacturers can easily install the hardware themselves—often in just 15 minutes per machine.
With other systems, Molina notes, “It was hard to even get to the point of implementation.”
Her team liked the straightforward way Amper works. Non-invasive sensor clips are attached around each machine’s power supply, where they collect electrical data and transmit it in real time to Amper’s cloud-based servers.
The data is then analyzed—using proprietary algorithms—and translated into meaningful metrics. By logging onto their dashboard, clients can monitor their machinery at a glance, identify leading causes of downtime, and track machine performance over time.
In addition, when a machine malfunctions, the system immediately issues text or email alerts to the appropriate personnel, so problems can be fixed immediately. Additional context is provided by machine operators, who can relay more information like downtime codes to the system via a nearby tablet.
To implement Amper, SWD’s maintenance technicians clipped the sensors around each machine’s power supply. The company elected to upload data via its Wi-Fi network (cellular transfer is also an option). No IT integration was required, and following a one-week calibration period, all users were onboarded onto the system.
“Immediately, our level of insight increased, and the quality of our data improved,” says Molina. “Not only could we compare downtime data more effectively across shifts, but it reduced the amount of time managers spent collecting data from up to five hours per week to just 20 minutes per week.”
In addition, SWD now finds it very easy to review their machine’s performance. Molina’s favorite shortcut is Amper’s Explorer Tool, which allows her to specify the data, machines, and timeframes she wants to review, then download CSV data to an Excel format—forming the basis of the daily and weekly reports she provides to upper management.
“It allows us to confirm our theories on where downtime exists. We can compare shifts easily. In fact, the data allowed us to identify where unexpected levels of downtime were occurring on our second shift.”
In addition, now they can measure setup times and establish standards. And because SWD has adopted Amper’s operator sign-in feature, it’s created greater accountability.
Furthermore, says Molina, “Amper is very nice to work with—customer service is really good. They’re always willing to work with us on different features and improvements. They’ve been great at engaging us to really use the system.”
Amper offers the manufacturing industry the simplest OEE tracking and real-time monitoring system. Our mission is to help manufacturers of all sizes and verticals improve efficiency and customer satisfaction by using real-time operational data.
Our solution allows manufacturers to:
Our intuitive software interface is easy to use, and our hardware is even easier to self-install. Amper’s customer success team works closely with clients to help them get the most from the system and identify their greatest opportunities for improvement.
Drop us a line to see how we can help you!
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