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Production Management
Plex Manufacturing Blog
Walking a Tightrope: How Automotive Manufacturers Find Balance in Digital Transformation
Watching aerial artists walk a tightrope is both thrilling and nerve-wracking. Whether over a raging waterfall, between skyscrapers, or across cliffs, we marvel at the skill and balance of the person on the rope....
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How Smart Manufacturing Lets You Create the KPIs You Need
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are essential for manufacturing. They are signposts that help you determine which areas of your operation are performing to expectations and which need improvement.But KPIs can be challenging to create if you’re unsure what data points you should track or if your manufacturing operation has unique requirements based on your industry, level of connectivity, or…
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What Your Clipboard Won’t Tell You, Your Data Will
At the time, it seemed like a good idea. Write down if there are any breakdowns, stoppages, changeovers, or anything that makes a machine stop. Write the time, the date, the reason, and how long it took to restart. Oh, and if you have any scrap from a startup, write that down by pounds and material type on another form. In its day, this method was helpful because it was the beginning of modern-…
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Production Monitoring KPIs – Greater Visibility Means Higher Production
The U.S. military uses advanced technology to extend the capabilities of its systems. From satellite images to radar and "eye in the sky" electronic surveillance planes, the goal is to extend visibility past the horizon so troops can see whatever is coming their way. They can see a macro version of a field to view the entire picture or zoom in to look at individual buildings, vehicles, or people…
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When You Don’t Know What’s Broken: Fighting Frightening Manufacturing Monsters
Bumps, clanks, hisses, and creaks. What’s that noise? In a manufacturing operation, just like a Halloween movie, these sounds are always scary. But sometimes, we don’t hear the sounds until they’ve jumped out at us, eliciting a haunted-house scream and a bit of embarrassment that we didn’t see it coming....
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Your Answer for Managing Major Manufacturing Disruption
In past decades, business continuity was mainly considered to respond to the dangers of natural disasters like fires, floods, or hurricanes. The dawn of the internet brought a new focus to continuity; it broadened its definition as companies raced to protect data from cyberattacks and breaches that could shut them down and leave them without critical information....
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Digital Connectivity: The “Key” to Empowering Manufacturing Teams
Have you ever been to the Florida Keys? The area is home to some of the world’s best beaches, snorkeling, and fishing, but getting there hasn’t always been easy. To move from island to island, visitors and locals had to island-hop by boat or ferry....
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Charging Ahead: Enabling Electric Vehicle Manufacturing with Smart Technology
Many advances in technology and changing consumer tastes have disrupted the automobile industry. From innovations like front-wheel drive and the SUV to the beginning of smart technology for navigation, diagnostics, and entertainment, production lines were forced to adjust many times in history....
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Solving the Downtime Riddle
Riddles. They’re mysterious, mind-bending puzzles that throw in an element of misdirection to throw you off course. They can be fun and even educational in your personal life, but riddles are not a puzzle piece you want to see in your manufacturing environment....
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Utilizing Automation in Manufacturing Processes: The Future Is Here
Driven by the rapid growth of technology, automation in manufacturing processes has significantly evolved over the years. Where traditional manufacturing was once utterly manual, more and more manual functions were reinvented with automated production. This included innovation in conveyance, limit switches, and eventually programmable logic controllers....
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