New software quantifies and improves plant productivity

The first step in plant productivity optimisation is to measure it, benchmarking is essential to confirm any changes are effective. The speed and complexity of current production facilities also means that to be effective, real-time monitoring is essential. P4A’s Pro.Lean package has been designed to fulfil these needs by assessing the real-time plant situation and displaying the overall production status and trend indicators.

An open interface allows the software to communicate and gather data from field devices, networks and machines via PLC, CNC, PAC, inverters, I/O, fieldbus, HMI, SCADA etc. The communication technology used is OPC UA compliant. In addition, Communication drivers for IoT system integration is also offered, along with direct connection to management level systems.

Wizards are available to automatically generate reports from analysis on the production data. These reports can be customised to integrate any relevant production data that needs analysing or cross-referencing with data from other production assets. Any areas experiencing inefficiencies are highlighted and details on where and when production downtime occurred as well as the causes are provided.

The parameters being monitored by Pro.Lean can be visualised in real-time using graphical dashboards to display status indicators and threshold values. Operators can monitor the productivity processes remotely by using the web-based reporting service and graphical interface. The dashboard can also be customised and integrated with automated control features enabling Pro.Lean to function in a supervisory capacity.

By providing meaningful analysis of KPIs for the calculation of OEE and highlighting specific areas of action to improve productivity Pro.Lean provides a customisable solution that offers unprecedented process control improvement opportunities, especially when compared to the relatively low investment cost. As a consequence, the use of Pro.Lean offers a rapid return on investment (ROI) to industrial clients.