For many manufacturers, finding a way to improve reliability, extend reach, and minimize time to value feels like the old adage “cheap, fast, or good: pick two.” In many scenarios, that’s the reality—but not all.

Plex customer, Hatch Stamping Company, a metal stamping manufacturer specializing in precision metal stamping, engineered solutions and welded assemblies for the automotive industry, was laser-focused on solving this problem to obtain a better understanding of overall performance—and make more informed decisions about its business.

A portion of Hatch’s critical data—such as production rates, performance time, quality specifications, and inventory information—is generated on the shop floor. So, the search for an analytics solution that would provide the right kind of operational information to key decision makers across the company began. Hatch identified key requirements for an analytics solution that included:

• Data views personalized to the needs of various departments or individuals across the organization, from the top floor to the shop floor.
• Options to compare plant performance across eight separate facilities, allowing enterprise-wide visibility with the click of a button, while recognizing any exceptions.
• The ability to integrate seamlessly with existing systems while replacing unreliable manual calculations—delivering one version of the truth.

Since the company is already running the Plex Manufacturing Cloud, Hatch considered Plex’s recently announced IntelliPlex Production Analytic Application. The application gives manufacturers access to the performance of production operations by tapping operations data to deliver key metrics, such as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), scrap rates, first pass yield, inventory turns, on-time jobs, and machine availability. Users can create self-services queries without any programming knowledge, and since the application is delivered via the cloud, it is accessible to the appropriate users from any device, anywhere.

The IntelliPlex Production Analytic Application requires no implementation time and comes with pre-configured role-based dashboards, so Hatch was able to hit the ground running.

“We went from looking at a six-month timeline to complete the project in-house, to being able to simply access the data and tools through Plex, which meets our needs across the organization,” said Janice D’Amico, Plex specialist lead, Hatch Stamping.

With various departments able to connect to the application—from finances to sales to procurement—Hatch leverages the application as an essential part of the business, driving tangible results possible by providing access and use of data through the Plex Manufacturing Cloud.

“This is not an IT tool, it’s an empowerment tool,” said D’Amico.

To learn more about the IntelliPlex Production Analytic application, and others currently available through the IntelliPlex Analytic Application Suite, such as applications for sales, order management, finance, and procurement, read the press release.