A Study on Implementation of Real-Time Production Monitoring System for Shop Floor Performance and its Impact on Efficiency

In manufacturing, profit is reliant on how efficiently the shop-floor is performing. Squeezing everything from resources without compromising on quality is a challenge increasingly faced by manufacturers in the current business environment. Continuous improvement is the key for overcoming the challenge. Every production process requires a monitoring system so that the desired efficiency and productivity can be monitored at any point of time. Processing time is one of the factors that affect the manufacturing lead time. In a conventional company, the recording of processing time is done manually by the operator on a sheet of paper which leaves room for both inconsistency and inaccuracy. This paper aims to overcome this problem by creating a shop floor production monitoring (PMS) system which is able to record and monitor the processing time automatically. This paper also presents the benefits and uses of an automated data collection and display system for production lines. The system will generate an automated report which stays in place and the management only needs to act based on the results. This cost effective automatic data collection significantly improves the accuracy of reports. The real time scheduling, monitoring and reporting system gives manufacturers the visibility and control to easily make continuous improvement decisions to improve OEE and increase productivity, reduce errors and improve quality while reducing lead times, energy and labour. Real-time monitoring removes costs and errors of collecting production and process data manually and enables the company personnel to use their time more efficiently while the high visibility motivates production staff to keep machines operational.