Reducing reporting time by 64% for a car parts manufacturer
We implemented a system collecting data from 24 injection molding machines. We replaced paper job cards with tablets connected to a SQL database.
The plant in Tychy lost over 14 hours a week just transcribing data from sheets into Excel. Thanks to Silesia Profit Solutions, data now flows straight from machines to the database, and managers see production results on their phones.
The challenge
The production manager, Mr. Andrzej, was struggling with a huge mess in the documentation. Each of the 24 injection molding machines generated 3 paper sheets a day, which landed on the planner's desk in the evening. Errors in manual data entry into the computer reached 9.4%, which completely distorted the real manufacturing costs of the bumper frame. Honestly, no one in the company knew exactly how much energy a specific line consumed because meters were read once a month. This caused quotes for contractors to be made 'by eye', which, with rising electricity prices, began to generate losses.
Our approach
Our two-person technical team spent exactly 4 days on the production floor, observing every move of the operators. We noticed that the biggest problem was not a lack of will, but clunky procedures. Instead of building a huge, expensive IT system, we opted for simple touch terminals at each machine. We decided to send data directly to the SQL database that the client already owned but which no one had previously used for current reporting. We focused on hard data from the production line, cutting all unnecessary statistics that only cluttered the view.
The solution
We installed 24 industrial terminals resistant to dust and grease, which we mounted directly at the injection molding machine control panels. The operator now only clicks 'Start' at the beginning of an order and selects a downtime code from a short list if the machine stops. The system automatically counts cycles and pulls energy consumption data from the pulse meters we connected. Management received one clear dashboard available in the browser, where information on the margin for each ongoing order is refreshed every 11 minutes. Zero redundant tables, only concrete numbers.
Results
We eliminated paper from the production floor by 95.8%. The time needed to prepare a full daily report for management fell from 2 hours and 15 minutes to just 4 minutes, allowing the planner to focus on supply optimization instead of typing data into a keyboard.
Timeline
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March 4, 2024Process audit on the floor and inventory of energy meters
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April 12, 2024Installation of the first 5 test terminals on the bumper line
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May 22, 2024Training for 48 operators and integration with the SQL database
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June 14, 2024Handover of finished dashboards and project closure
"I thought this would be another expensive IT toy that would only make life harder for people on the floor. But these tablets just work, and I finally see where our money is leaking on the night shift."