Data collection and traceability enable operators to track different elements of the manufacturing process. By integrating the right solutions into daily assembly processes, manufacturing analytics can provide a deeper understanding of your production, ranging from torque applied to bolts and cycle times to maintenance statuses and more, which enables insights that were previously unattainable.
At Atlas Copco, we want all our customers to perform at their best, which is why we speak on the importance of Smart Integrated Assembly – our Smart Factory concept, which capitalizes on Industry 4.0 technology, including digitalization and automation, to profoundly change the way companies manufacture, improve, and distribute their products. With the right traceability solutions in manufacturing, you’ll gain a better understanding of your processes, detect production weaknesses, and feel confident in your operational decisions.
Let manufacturing data drive your decisions. Join our on-demand webinar, Why smart factories start with smart software, to discover how you can optimize your assembly today.
What does data and traceability mean in manufacturing
What is data and traceability? In manufacturing, data refers to the information gathered about your assembly products and processes, whereas traceability refers to the ability to track a product throughout its entire lifecycle. This information is critical to the health of your entire facility, including production output, quality, and your reputation.
Manual tracking
Scrap & rework
Limited visibility
Reputational damage
Manufacturers that neglect data collection and traceability will face negative consequences, including increased downtime from manual tracking, scrap and rework, limited assembly visibility, and potentially damage to their reputation. Over time, the effects can really add up, significantly reducing your profitability.
Consider this: if you aren’t gathering or analyzing manufacturing data correctly, how can you prevent future mistakes? How can you improve the efficiency of your assembly processes?
Simply put, you can’t. Without the right solutions for documenting your most vital assembly information, you won’t be able to predict what’s ahead. As a result, you’ll only be reactive to your ever-changing assembly. The key is to be proactive by accurately identifying disturbances before they occur.
The hidden costs of poor data collection and traceability
The hidden costs of poor data collection and traceability in manufacturing often go unnoticed, but they can significantly impact your assembly. By improving how we gather and track manufacturing data, we can reduce downtime and prevent costly mistakes, thereby improving your assembly and protecting your profitability.
Rework and repairs can quickly accumulate. Line stoppages, bottlenecks, machine wear and tear, defective products – the list goes on, each causing more downtime, higher processing and labor costs, reduced overall yield, and sometimes even customer dissatisfaction.
What does all of this mean for your production? Well, these avoidable disruptions don’t just disrupt production; they translate directly into costly unplanned downtime. The results can vary significantly based on the scale of the facility and the industry, but manufacturers could lose anywhere between $10,000 and $2 million per hour or even more due to unplanned downtime. That amounts to roughly $166 to $33,333 per minute in lost production.
Tip: Want to see how your assembly compares? Use our ROI Calculator to estimate your potential cost savings after implementing data collection and traceability solutions in manufacturing.
By implementing predictive analytics into your manufacturing processes, you can start to produce products right the first time, reducing time spent correcting errors and getting back on track. Errors like applying the wrong torque to missing fasteners and even faulty parts can all go unnoticed, resulting in line stoppages, recalls, and rework. To avoid these delays, Atlas Copco has developed solutions that collect manufacturing data and provide complete traceability over your entire production. Depending on your assembly applications, different solutions could work better for your production than others. Let’s explore these solutions.
Reactive assembly: The errors that could be tanking your bottom line
Manufacturing analytics are more than a ‘nice to have,’ they can completely reshape the way you do business, enabling you to train operators faster, identify errors the moment they occur, and stay on top of maintenance intervals. When deciding if predictive analytic solutions are right for you, you must consider your assembly and what issues are affecting your profitability, including production and assembly errors, quality defects and rework, costly downtime and scrap, and lastly compliance and audit risks. Data analysis and manufacturing traceability help by improving productivity, quality, profitability, and more, ensuring your long-term success.
Production and assembly errors
One small way these solutions can assist your production is by detecting errors in real time during assembly. Whether your operators are still training or have many years of experience, mistakes can happen at any moment. With operator guidance solutions in place, your operators will immediately know if they apply the wrong torque or angle, miss fasteners, follow incorrect fastening sequences, skip steps, or use the wrong tool or program.
What is traceability in manufacturing?
Predictive analytics help manufacturers to proactively foresee bottlenecks or quality issues before they actually cause any production disruptions. And when these do occur, have the ability to precisely identify where in the production line these errors happen. In this manner, traceability features enhance productivity, decrease recalls, lower downtime, and streamline the re-balancing of the production line.
Costly, unplanned downtime
Tool maintenance and breakdowns can sometimes occur unexpectedly, causing costly downtime. The right service solution can analyze your tool usage data, recommend maintenance schedules, track service appointments, and more. All this to ensure your assembly remains business as usual.
Reduce the occurrence of scrap
Let’s be honest: mistakes happen. But that doesn’t make them any easier to deal with. Data-driven solutions can change that by helping to reduce the occurrence of scrap. Avoiding each quality issue helps you understand your assembly better, proactively prevent bigger problems from impacting production, and thus reduce scrap at your facility.
Data-driven solutions within the Atlas Copco portfolio
Today, manufacturers have a wide selection of data-driven services and solutions to help them reach their goals. Naturally, every manufacturing facility is different, so it makes sense that our offering is as unique as your assembly processes.
ToolsNet 8
Simplify process improvement. Ensure your assembly runs efficiently with ToolsNet 8’s production insights and overview capabilities. With ToolsNet 8, you’ll gain complete control, helping you reduce rework, enhance production quality, and maximize uptime.
ToolsTalk 2
Have complete visibility and traceability over your entire line structure with ToolsTalk 2. This software offers elite controller programming, helping you to manage your line with ease. Being able to program all controllers and their Virtual Stations quickly and simultaneously will greatly boost productivity.
ALTURE – Data-driven solutions
Actionable data insights to support your goals and enable confident, data-driven decisions. You can select from two service options: ALTURE Maintain, which focuses on optimal tool maintenance, and ALTURE Optimize, providing real-time feedback when quality issues or production throughput concerns arise.
Service-level agreements
We also offer data-driven service-level agreements through TechCover and ToolCover. Each is divided into modular packages that build upon each other, allowing you to select the coverage that best fits your needs, from basic to premium protection.
Data and manufacturing traceability solutions: Future-proofing your assembly
Manufacturing analytics is one of your most vital resources. Don’t let it go to waste. As Industry 4.0 advances innovation and manufacturing success, leverage its assets to your benefit. With the right data collection and manufacturing traceability solutions in place, you can collect data and use it to make informed decisions about your assembly.
Enhance your production efficiency today. Talk to our experts now to find the solutions that best fit your production needs.
