Production Support
We Support You
Every automated system needs professional support during production to ensure that quality is maintained, the facility’s staff are trained, and your program and machines are functioning properly. And as production progresses, changes will need to be made—even the most robust systems will require tweaks as your business morphs over time.
What We Do
That’s where our Automation Engineers and Field Technicians step in! We train your staff on proper equipment use and diagnosing problems. We also diagnose the root cause of issues and brainstorm corrective actions. We track and analyze data on uptime/downtime, causes for downtime, and product quality. We use proprietary Pareto charts that show where improvement efforts need focusing. We look at each problem as an opportunity for improvement.
Monitor Equipment & Process
We provide 24/7 equipment and process monitoring services. We trend critical process variables, monitor uptime and downtime by cause, and monitor production quality (i.e., good parts/bad parts). The data we collect is analyzed using innovative methods unique to Trace Automation. From analyses of charts and graphs, we can see where improvements to the system are needed.
Measure Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
Overall Equipment Effectiveness identifies the percentage of
manufacturing time that is truly productive. We measure OEE to identify inefficiencies (e.g., planned and unplanned stops, slow cycles) and eliminate waste (e.g., product defects). We implement corrective actions and measure uptime, downtime, and quality again to see if the actions helped. We repeat these steps until your system is optimized.
Conduct Root Cause Analyses (RCA)
We conduct root cause analyses to identify the root causes of
defects and other problems, either in the manufacturing process or
end product. We turn into detectives: we follow the trail of evidence
(data) until it points us to the issue. We then discuss corrective
actions with you and implement them until the desired outcome is
achieved. RCA, coupled with other process improvements we may
suggest, prevent the same issues from reoccurring and improve
process speed and quality.
Fix Issues & Improve Code
When production problems arise, we fix them. And to prevent
problems from arising, we code improvements into your system.
Our goal is to help you meet or exceed your initial target production efficiency for quality and uptime. Additionally, we get your equipment and process to the point where your operations staff can handle your system day-to-day without our Controls Engineer going into the code/HMI/SCADA to troubleshoot issues.
- Frequently Asked Questions
Production Support FAQs
Every manufacturing and industrial system needs production support. So, the real question is: do you want to perform this in-house or contract a systems integrator to support you? If contracting a systems integrator is your choice, production support is where Trace Automation shines! Most of our engineers have a background in machinery and processes, and we are exceptionally good at monitoring equipment, analyzing data, improving efficiencies, and resolving issues. Additionally, we help train your operations team to run the equipment and troubleshoot problems.
Think about incorporating production support before production is scheduled to start, but don’t wait too long. Give the systems integrator, like us, advanced notice of your plan so that they have plenty of time to schedule resources. When they complete a project, they immediately move on to another one, so without advanced notice, they may not be available to help you.
In almost every case, the first opportunity a production operator gets to use the new system is when it goes into production. To make this go smoothly, we train your personnel to run the equipment and troubleshoot problems day-to-day without a control engineer. We also track machine or process issues, such as downtime, production rates, and quality issues, and we use this data to suggest corrective actions and make improvements. If you believe that your business would benefit from these services, then you need production support.
Ready to Automate Your Business?
Introduce yourself! Tell us about your facility and what problems you need us to solve.
Give us the controls—we’ll exceed your goals!