Real time shop floor monitoring system for a better production line management

Abstract

Efficiency and accuracy at the production lines enables a better production and utilization of the available resources. The data available should be interpreted accurately in order to identify the various faults at production level and to immediately rectify them to improve efficiency. An accurate data management and shop floor monitoring system (PMS) is equally important in improving production performance. A number of production floors are utilizing manual methods of data collection for producing reports. Manual data compilation leaves room for both inconsistencies and inaccuracies. When manual data collection is practiced, there is usually a second step of manually compiling the data. This is most commonly accomplished by entering in the information into spreadsheets. When the data is collected without the help of a PMS then the data can be inaccurate. Where there is human intervention on the recording or collection of data, the truthfulness of the collected data is no longer reliable. This paper presents an automated data collection and display system for production lines. Once the data is displayed, it is transferred into computerize spreadsheet in the remote office by authorized personnel for reporting purposes. The system will generate an automated report which stays in place and the management only needs to act base on the results. This cost effective automatic data collection is the alternative to manual data collection. It significantly improves the accuracy of the valuable reports for management.