PRODUCTION MONITORING SYSTEM

M-Box Benefits

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Operational Efficiency

Efficiency in energy and the workforce are at the basis of Cost Leadership and can be achieved through Smart Monitoring. Constant measurements and comparison against optimal process settings and realistic personal KPI’s stops your organization from drifting away from optimal performance.

Not being in control of your operational cost is simply not an option in the competitive environment. M-Box is the optimal tool for companies that are in the process of reaching top-efficiency through lean manufacturing.

Monitor Energy Consumption

Measuring is knowing and savings can be maximized after all relevant information is available via M-Box Smart Monitoring.

Electricity wastage can occur on both core and auxiliary equipment. Often machines are not switched off when not in use. For example, air compressors keeping the pneumatic system at pressure around the clock, even when the factory is closed or heaters on injection moulding machines keeping the barrels at operational temperature etc. If unnoticed this impacts operational costs.

M-Box can monitor electricity consumption on a department and individual equipment level around the clock with a deviation of less than 5% from the consumption records of utility providers.
Historical data on every level of operation is available for analysis. Notifications on excess electricity consumption can be sent to responsible officers in the organization.

Cost Analysis

The obvious may not always be that simple. Commercial decisions can be difficult to make and being awarded orders may hinge on the last few percentages of price difference.

Material cost and wastage should be and mostly are under control.

Production cost and energy consumption can be a completely different story altogether. Different moulds in the machine may have a completely different energy consumption signature.

Family moulds, stacked moulds are used with often very little insight in consumption per unit.

Here we also address the fact that many local governments encourage close monitoring and allocation of energy cost per manufactured unit.

Instant Notifications

M-Box’s Instant Notification system will drastically improve the situational awareness of your team members. The intelligently designed and highly flexible personal filters allow each user to decide which notifications he or she will receive (within limitations set by the management).

Also the time and location in which they want to receive these notifications can be individually set.

For instance, when on the premises one may choose to be informed about all issues that may occur, but in the weekend or when not on-site only major issues are brought to the attention.

Monitor-Box Instant Notifications Feature

Workforce Management

Get the most out of your team with M-Box.

Unfortunately our workers may not always show the level of commitment and involvement that management prefers. This can lead to cutting corners with negative impact on efficiency and overall performance and eventually cause issues with timely deliveries.

When they are working in an environment where each employee’s performance is measured and evaluated in a constructive manner, a positive attitude change is inevitable.

The fact that M-Box allows operators to monitor their own performance is of even more added value. The self-motivational effect on the team is tremendous, when they see how the operation benefits from all contributing to meet and exceed the individual KPI’s.

Companies in transition from reward systems on Piece-Rates to Performance Related Pay can hugely benefit from M-Box.

The system drives the results.

Traceability

Where traceability is a requirement, M-Box has the tools.

In injection moulding for example, just switching to a date stamp with automatic clock (5 minute interval) allows 100% traceability to the machine, operator and QC staff responsible for every single unit manufactured.

In metal fabrication and mould making where individual objects are identified with smart cards  traceability is automatically achieved.

Contact us to review possible solutions for your specific situation.

Maintenance Alerts

Any equipment maintenance can be recorded and the system issues maintenance alerts based on the schedule of your in-house service or contractor. Run-Hours or Cycle Count Scheduling replace calendar based maintenance programs. 

The importance of preventative maintenance cannot be over-emphasized. M-Box is a great tool in a Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) approach to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). 

Timely executed routine maintenance to assets (moulds and machines) avoids expensive repairs and unscheduled downtime and improves staff safety.

Safety Alerts

Safety comes first for staff and production tools!

Accidents in operations are often preceded by a-typical (processing) conditions that may easily be overlooked.

Changes in electricity consumption, temperature, pressure or flow or malfunctioning crucial auxiliary equipment may surround incidents. These parameters can now be easily monitored and alerts can be sent out to anyone involved. Based on your internal risk assessment we can assist in the design of the system.

Your insurance provider may be pleased with the extra layer of safety and a possible discount on your premium may outweigh the M-Box set-up and subscription fees by far!

Universally Applicable

M-Box was designed from practical necessity in an injection moulding environment with a variety of machine brands. It was a basic requirement to develop the MES (Manufacturing Execution System) to be able to operate on all machines. The system is therefore applicable to any brand or age of equipment.

Smart cards and sensors cooperate in a smart way. All combinations of workers, machines and tools are automatically recognized.

All sensors are mounted externally and monitor physical properties, such as movement, flow, temperatures etc independently of the machine itself.