Lantek Analytics, your factory’s analytic business intelligence is just a click away
by Lantek
Advanced Manufacturing
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As plant manager or head of production, how much do you know about your factory? Have you identified and located every last piece of information? Do you know the efficiency of each machine? How about the workshop? Of each business area and the plant as a whole?
Until recently, interaction at departmental and customer level was based on phone calls, face-to-face meetings and paper (lots of paper) reflecting data that was manually entered into computers, which slowed down processes and was not very secure. Who hasn’t written down a wrong number or misplaced a piece of information? Or, even worse, did we have the data we needed to make the best decisions?
In this, machines outperform people. And today, digitization, through the sensorization of processes and machines, gives us the ability to automate data collection, providing a real-time snapshot of the business.
But digitization is not just about collecting and storing data electronically. Industry 4.0 opens the door to a more advanced level equipped with intelligence beyond human intelligence. Hosted in a Cloud environment, sophisticated software quickly analyzes the data and provides answers that either run automatically or help department heads, or CEOs themselves, make better decisions.
We have spoken on several occasions about the importance of making data-driven decisions. Now let’s see what Lantek Analytics can do with this data in two areas that, in turn, work on the basis of different KPIs so that managers can have a better understanding of what is happening in their factory:
Manufacturing Analytics
OEE indicator. Enables you to evaluate machine utilization based on the three basic parameters that make up this well-known metric:
Availability: measures the percentage of scheduled production time that the machine was producing parts within the machine’s schedule.
Performance: how much the machine has produced compared to its theoretical maximum output.
Quality: percentage of good parts produced.
Nesting. Shows the percentage of parts, scrap and actuals generated after cutting the nests in production.
Allows filtering by time period, location, machine type, materials used...
Customer Analytics
Quotations: total sent and accepted, value, conversion into sales, geographic location...
Sales status: value of orders in progress, completed, delayed or not fulfilled, delivery deadlines...
Customer segmentation: by material, invoicing, production...
Benefits of using Lantek Analytics
Optimization of production costs. The system shows any kind of loss of productivity and/or efficiency along the production chain, such as lack of stock, problems with the activity of a machine, cost deviations...
Increased situational awareness. The solution allows the factory manager or CEO to access more information about the status of the plant’s processes and interpret the data correctly. This allows them to know more precisely what is going on and to base their decisions on data rather than intuition. In short, it helps them decide better and faster.
Analytics adapted to sheet metal cutting. Lantek Analytics provides everything you need right out of the box. Plant managers can choose from hundreds of metrics related to sheet metal cutting, machine tools, and their plant processes, saving hundreds of hours compared to working with a generic Business Intelligence solution, for which they would have to create their own KPIs and data processes.
Increased performance. Historical data analysis shows trends that help you plan for the future to optimize workloads, personnel, materials and machines. In addition, it can detect consumption patterns that, in turn, lead to new business opportunities.
Features
Lantek Analytics has an intuitive and easy to use dashboard, with the KPIs required by the user visualized with graphical panels that, at a glance, provide information to enable better decisions. Panels that are fed daily with historical data.
At the same time, it uses sheet metal filters to analyze data from different perspectives such as time period, plant, material, thickness, customer, work center, etc.
The software has a responsive and mobile-first design so that you can access it from any device and place, and at any time.
The software has a responsive and mobile-first design so that you can access it from any device and place, and at any time.
Workflow
There are three levels of operation that work in an orchestrated manner.
Intermediary. Here we work with MES, ERP and other areas involved from the moment a request for a quotation is received, the offer is configured, taking into account resources and production, and the design and manufacturing order is raised. MES is the software that provides a global solution to the factory, including production management, the capture and validation of data from machines and auxiliary operations, and inventory and warehouse management.
Workshop. In parallel, MES is integrated at the ground level, on the shop floor, where operators receive the work orders to shape the metal parts with CAD/CAM software, in either 2D or 3D version (tubes and profiles).
Cloud. Until now, we have been working with the two previous levels, but the cloud opens a new level with multiple opportunities to provide intelligence to the factory through sophisticated manufacturing and customer analytics software, already mentioned above. Over time, new programs will be implemented that will offer new opportunities to multiply the agility and competitiveness of the plants.
Undoubtedly, data analytics can give us enormous competitive advantages over competitors in this Fourth Industrial Revolution and at Lantek we are working to develop software that allows us to measure to know; to know to adjust; to adjust to optimize. All at the click of a button.
Lantek is the digital transformation partner for the metal industry, both for sheet metal processing and for metal cutting businesses. We are your partner in the journey to achieve the goals of Industry 4.0 from an open cloud platform for diverse sectors, such as energy, transportation, agricultural machinery, walkways and metal structures.
Cutting and bending sheet metal accurately is a challenging task, especially when the job involves tight tolerances and complex geometries. It often takes time, skill, and multiple tries to meet customer specifications.
There’s no turning back now. Digitization is a must for any company, and has become essential following the impact of the pandemic. Many companies have been forced to take the technological and digital plunge, adapting or even reinventing their business models to continue serving their customers remotely. This has made companies more vulnerable and more exposed to security breaches.
Digitization is changing the way we manufacture, simplifying and improving the production processes of the sheet metal and metal industry with digital solutions that optimize manufacturing. And the machining sector is no exception.